HOUSTON, Texas (25 Dec 2004) -- John Wood is a teacher at heart. The banker-turned-businessman lights up when explaining simple chemistry and still is surprised at how attached he gets to students who graduate every five weeks from his commercial diving school in Southwest Houston. "You remember how they came and they matured," he says. "They come a long way." Wood's business has come a long way, too. The commercial diving school, Ocean Corp., was on the brink of bankruptcy when Wood was brought in to help turn things around 15 years ago. Armed with construction experience from college jobs, a love for scuba diving and a business degree from the University of Houston, he figured he could leave his banking job to help save the school and bring himself closer to teaching. "I thought, 'I know something about breathing underwater, and I know something about construction. I can do this,' " he said. And he did. Wood got the school accredited, hired new staff and established a longer training program. The biggest change, Wood says, was hiring more experienced instructors. "They tend to be more mature and better able to handle our younger clientele," he said, adding that many of his instructors are former commercial or military divers who no longer want to work at offshore jobs that can take them away from their families for days or even weeks at a time. Accreditation important He also got the school accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology, which in turn helped the school get financial aid for its students. Since opening in 1969, the school had gone years without accreditation. The company's prior management had avoided such programs to thwart scrutiny, Wood said. "They didn't want anybody telling them how to run things," he said. "The school had resisted change for too long." But because most of the students come from out of state, they moved to Houston in search of jobs and a place to stay and needed financial help so they could focus on their training. | | Today, the school has an 80 percent graduation rate, a figure Wood wants to boost by hiring someone to help find the students work while they are in school and by starting a mentoring program that keeps the students in class. Finally, Wood decided to lengthen the training program from 18 weeks to 30 weeks so students wouldn't have to interrupt their careers to return for more training. Enrollment starts every few weeks. Intensive training The school's 4.2-acre campus has dive tanks, decompression chambers and a 400-foot-deep diving bell system. Students travel to Galveston for offshore training and open-water dives. Many graduates go on to work on underwater construction, repairs and inspection on everything from dams and bridges to oil rigs and power plants. Some train as medical technicians to work as offshore paramedics. Most go to work for the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico, working for employers such as Stolt Offshore, Global Industries and Cal Dive International. Global Industries, which provides construction and diving services for the petroleum industry, has been hiring Ocean Corp. graduates for years, said Braxton Dikes, who manages diving business development for the company. "The school's a fine school and much needed," he said. "You can't just hire a diver off the streets. They have to be accredited, and they put out a good product." But Wood isn't done making changes and tweaking his product. A high turnover rate means divers will always be in demand. So he wants to add more student services and create an alumni group to help former students network. He'd like to add a few more training programs, including perhaps a program for physically challenged students. A financial conservative, he's avoiding expanding the business too quickly or with the help of loans. "I don't want to grow too big or into a chain," he said. "I just want it to be successful enough to leave it to one of my children." SOURCE - Houston Chronicle |
