Fiber Broadband association presents inaugural Gene Scott Education Award

Fiber Connect 2022, the Fiber Broadband Association presented its first Gene Scott Education Award to Greenlight Community Broadband of Wilson, N.C. The award recognizes a person, community, or institution that has significantly impacted the advancement of education in the fiber industry.

Gene Scott was a long-time community broadband advocate and a friend of the fiber broadband industry. Gene passed away in February 2022. He served as Chairman of the Fiber Broadband Association’s Education Subcommittee and was instrumental in the development of the Association’s Optical Telecom Installation Certification Path (OpTIC Path™) training program formally launched this year.

Greenlight Community Broadband is a community-owned, fiber-to-the-home provider in Wilson, N.C. Since its founding, the service provider’s priority has been to provide comprehensive broadband connections to support local economic health, enhance citizens’ lives, and improve the delivery of city services.

“Greenlight fostered and supported Gene’s ongoing efforts to build workforce training programs, working with Wilson Community College in North Carolina to create an affordable fiber technician training course,” said Mark Boxer, Technical Manager, Solutions and Applications Engineering at OFS, and Fiber Broadband Association Board Member. “This effort charted the way for the Fiber Broadband Association’s OpTIC Path certification course to launch this year—a program that will provide specially trained fiber optic technicians to the industry and help service providers meet the historic broadband demands created by billions of dollars in federal funding.”

“Greenlight and the city of Wilson were very special to Gene. It’s our responsibility and honor to carry on his work in our community and in workforce training for the growing needs of the fiber industry,” said Will Aycock, General Manager at Greenlight Community Broadband. “We recently concluded the pilot OpTIC Path course at Wilson Community College with great success and enthusiasm from the trainees. We look forward to continuing this course here and helping other communities replicate its success.”

CT Bureau