South Carolina Business Review

SC building construction program ranks high in national competition

By Mike Switzer

Published November 8, 2023 at 6:30 AM EST

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Mike Switzer, host of SC Business Review

If you heard our recent interview with Laura Hutchinson who runs the Advanced Manufacturing and Skills Trade school at Midlands Technical College, you might remember her mentioning that the building construction class won the 2022 national championship and placed second in the nation this year. And so today, we have on the phone the director of that program. Mike Switzer interviews Robbie Sharpe, the Building Construction Program Director at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, S.C.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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