DALTON, Ga. — Rufino Alvarran has been around the carpet industry all of his life with his parents working in the industry for years. But until he stepped foot in Mohawk Industries’ IVC plant, he didn’t really know exactly what that meant.

“I didn’t know there were so many things that went into it,” said Alvarran, a Southeast Whitfield High School senior. “I just thought it was making carpet, rolling it up and putting it on a truck and shipping it off. I didn’t know all of the things that went on. My parents have both been in the carpet industry for a long time, but you don’t know all that goes into it.”

Members of Southeast’s Career, Technical and Agricultural Education (CTAE) program have become much more familiar with Mohawk’s business model and career pathways through a partnership between the company and the school stretching back for more than a year. On Thursday, Mohawk hosted a CTAE day at the school with 11 Mohawk employees cycling students through 10 sessions.

The day wasn’t just a promotion of the carpet industry, but more of a true career-building exercise. Sessions were held on a variety of topics including communications/social media, networking, problem solving, professionalism and personal finance.

“We have people from all different facets of our company, not only to share their experience and what they do at Mohawk but also some things that would help them (the students) in the future,” said Mohawk Director of Technical Training Linda McEntire. “We want to be able to help them to know what to expect when they come into a career in manufacturing.”

The variety of activities made the day a whirlwind of information, one student said, and was a valuable exercise in gaining lessons not necessarily taught in a classroom.

“I like how they are really trying to prepare us for the real world with ideas about résumés, business, professional attitude,” senior Johan Rodriguez said. “They have shown us a lot of certain things that you might not have thought about when it comes to getting a job.”

Southeast CTAE teacher Robyn Rhodes said one of the biggest challenges facing the area is retaining quality students. She said oftentimes students leave for college and don’t return to their hometown. She said partnerships like the one with Mohawk will encourage students to return and put their education to use in the area.

“I am here to see our students have as much success as possible,” Rhodes said. “We need that and we want them to be able to help our community grow. We are so hoping to continue to build and grow it going forward.”

The juniors and seniors in the CTAE program have been very positive about the partnership. Senior Shane Babb said he has seen his hometown industry in a new light.

“I think it is really cool and a neat experience a lot of high school students don’t get the chance to be a part of,” Babb said. “To get to play a part in it and kind of get to know what it is like on the inside of Mohawk, you really don’t know what is going on until you can really see it in person.”

“It really does open your eyes and let’s you see there really are a lot of different career paths,” he said. “When you are thinking at this stage of your life, ‘What am I going to do with my future?’ you really start to focus in and look at your options. You don’t know until you get to see exactly what is going on.”