Southern State offers hands-on fiber optic training in Hillsboro
Hillsboro’s new fiber optic class aims at the crews Adams County needs, with 85% hands-on training and a CFOT exam built in.
Adams County’s broadband buildout still needs people who can install and test the lines, and Southern State Community College is putting a five-week fiber optic class in Hillsboro on that exact path. The course will run at Southern State Community College Central Campus, 100 Hobart Drive, beginning Tuesday, May 19, with a Friday, May 15 registration deadline and an $850 fee that includes study materials, exams and a one-year Fiber Optics Association membership.
The class is built for adults at different skill levels, but the real selling point is how practical it is: about 85% of the training is hands-on. Students will learn fiber optic industry standards, identify fiber types and connectors, install and terminate cable, splice fiber, and test installations to standard. The program also covers the history and future of fiber optics, along with troubleshooting, so participants leave with both technical basics and a clearer sense of where the field is headed.
Southern State says the course is designed to prepare students for the CFOT, or Certified Fiber Optic Technician, exam, which is sanctioned by the Fiber Optics Association and will be administered on the last day of class, Thursday, June 18. Todd Guden, a Southern State alumnus from the computer science department, will teach the course. The college has offered the same fiber-optic format before, including a January session led by Guden, suggesting the training is becoming a steady workforce pipeline rather than a one-time class.
That pipeline matters in Adams County, where the local payoff is tied to a much larger infrastructure push. In August 2024, Ohio announced a $50 million broadband investment for Adams, Brown and Clermont counties, and the altafiber project is expected to improve internet capabilities for 3,606 unserved and 3,390 underserved addresses in Adams County alone. With a county population of 28,550, even small shifts in broadband access can affect whether households can work remotely, run a business, use telehealth or keep up with schoolwork.
The timing also lines up with the labor reality behind that buildout. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration has said broadband deployment will require tens of thousands of workers, and more than 30% of states and territories planned to direct nearly $350 million in BEAD funding toward workforce development. In that context, a fiber optic certificate in Hillsboro is not just continuing education. It is a direct route into the installation, maintenance and troubleshooting jobs that broadband contractors and public agencies will need as Adams County’s network expands.
Southern State says Talent Ready funds are available for those who qualify while money lasts, and its scholarship program is aimed at Ohio students in less-than-one-year, in-demand credential programs who meet financial-need and FAFSA requirements. For local adults looking for a faster path into a technical field, the class offers a credential tied to one of the county’s most visible infrastructure needs.
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