THOMASTON – The marine systems training center opens its doors officially today at the former Thomaston Academy on Main Street and should provide a boost to boat owners and boatyards all over the state.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony at 3 p.m. is scheduled to feature speakers, self-guided tours and light refreshments.

“The training center provides a place for training – allowing the best training providers to offer workers the highest-quality training in marine systems and related programs in the state of Maine,” said Executive Director Susan Swanton of the Maine Marine Trades Association, which manages the center.

The availability of training programs close to home will allow more businesses to train more employees and make Maine’s work force stronger and better able to deal with changing technologies, Swanton added.

“What makes the center so exciting,” said Swanton, “is that it has been championed by collaboration between the marine industry and Eastern Maine Development Corporation.”

Training began at the Thomaston site in November 2007, and the center recently completed renovations to be able to offer an expanded schedule of courses to workers already in the marine industry.

Educational and training providers include the Landing School, The Boat School at Husson, American Boats and Yacht Council, the Maine Community College System, and original equipment manufacturers.

Minda McVetty of Rockland, the new director of the center, said she believes the center represents a “very exciting development in the educational arena of the midcoast.

“It provides a means for keeping one of Maine’s cornerstone industries alive and thriving,” she said.

The center is the first functioning component of the Many Flags-One Campus initiative that seeks to develop a single campus with multiple high-performing and applied educational programs by the fall of 2013.

One of the goals is to move the center to the new Many Flags campus, McVetty said.

Alan Hinsey, president of the center’s advisory board and economic development specialist with Eastern Maine Development Corp. for Knox and Waldo counties, said, “The commitment of the Maine Marine Trades Association will ensure that our center meets the needs of the marine industry in Maine.”

Swanton added that, like boat buyers, boat owners look to Maine yards for outstanding service that ranges from routine maintenance to major overhauls and retrofits.

gchappell@bangordailynews.net

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