It's hard enough to fit continuing education into a night shift schedule, but in some industries, like steel, there are shifting shifts! With schedules changing week to week, how can anyone plan on taking classes that are only scheduled once a week?

The Institute For Career Development (ICD) solves the problem by running the same class, with the same instructor, several times a day. So no matter what shift workers are holding, a particular class will be available at a time that they are.

ICD is a jointly sponsored program by the United Steelworkers Workers of America and 13 steel companies operating within the United States. It is a negotiated benefit for union members.

Here are two workers who benefited from the ICD program:

• In 1954 she was a high school dropout. Today, Patricia Lane is a graduate of Indiana University Northwest's Swingshift College. Lane, who is close to retiring from her job at Burn's Harbor plant in Indiana says, "I'm 61. What am I going to do with a degree? But I feel that anything you learn is never wasted." Swingshift College, holds classes throughout the Indiana harbor area at times and locations convenient to steelworker's schedules.

• When James Donald Jones was laid off from his steel job at AK Steel in Ashland, Kentucky, he took advantage of his "free time" by entering a nursing program made available through the ICD. After earning his LPN degree, he worked as a nurse until he was called back to the steel mill. But he did not leave his studies behind. He went on to get his Registered Nurse degree. "I can't feel sorry for anyone who doesn't take full advantage of this absolutely free program to gain employment or better themselves."

To find out more about the Institute for Career Development, visit http://www.icd-uswasteelco.org