College Students Partner For Advanced Mortuary Training

Mortuary science students from Ivy Tech Community College Northwest and Malcolm X College (one of the City Colleges of Chicago) met on Ivy Tech's De La Garza campus in East Chicago recently to receive crematory operator training delivered by the Cremation Association of North America, a worldwide organization.


Nhemya Ward, program chair of the Ivy Tech program, said this was a perfect opportunity for the two colleges to bring their students together.

According to the association, many states have now instituted training requirements for crematory operators. CANA is recognized and has been selected by several states as the official provider of operator training.

CANA requires a minimum of 40 students in order to provide the training. Together, the two programs met the minimum requirement.

Karen Scott, Malcolm X's program chair, brought 22 students across the state line for the certification.

"We are looking forward to doing more things together in the future," Scott said. "The students seem to have responded really well with the program ... really high marks on evaluations."

CANA has conducted certification programs throughout the country for more than 15 years and has certified thousands of operators in the United States, Canada and other countries.

During the training, students learned technical terminology, scientific principles of cremation, guidelines and instruction for operating a crematory retort as well as legal ramifications when operating in a crematory. At the conclusion of the training, all students sat for their crematory operator certificate. Those who pass the exam will receive a nationally recognized certification.

Many students said they appreciated how this certification will allow them to be more marketable in such a competitive industry, Ward said, and Ivy Tech is looking toward having this certification training become a part of the curriculum.

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