(L) Clay Crabtree-Academy Director
(C) Crystal Johnson- CEO/President Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce
(R) Kevin Fitterling, Store Manage
The Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce (BACC) held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Walmart Academy on Thursday, March 2 nd , 2017. According to the Academy Director, Clay Crabtree “Walmart recently announced a two-year $2.7 billion investment in its associates, including wages, training, clearer career paths, education, and benefits. This includes the creation of the Walmart Academy training program to help Walmart’s front-line supervisors and Assistant Managers build the skills they need to grow, develop and be successful by serving customers and leading associates.” The Batesville Academy is the 75th Academy to be opened in this program. The Academy will serve about 23 stores in the area and has the capacity to train up to 90 associates per week. The ribbon cutting ceremony was part of the formal graduation of 39 of the Batesville store’s associates from the new Academy. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation also presented grants to the following organizations: Southside 4-H $1,000.00, Batesville Fire Dept. $1,000.00, Batesville High School $1,000.00, Sulphur Rock Magnet School Food Bank $1,000.00, Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce $2,000.00 and Foster Children Shop with a Cop $2,500.00.
