Posted in | News

Washington High School Students Allowed in Pilot Program on Building, Construction Trade

Download PDF Copy

Oct 27 2009

High school students in Washington State can now participate in one of two pilot programs on the West Coast for building and construction trades.

"Graduates are going to have fine marketable skills, very marketable that our industry needs for tomorrow's technology," said Eric Peterson, Sheet Metal Workers JATC. "They are going to be able to live well and provide for their families."

Highline School District's Puget Sound Skills Center in Burien and Wenatchee's Skills Center will offer the pilot programs for core skills for pre apprenticeship in the building and construction trades.

Sean McGarvey, Secretary Treasurer of the national Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO said, "The Building Trades Multi-Craft Core Curriculum is an innovative training program that provides a gateway from high school or community college to joint labor-management registered apprenticeships throughout the United States."

The Core Curriculum is also designed to provide an on ramp to careers in the construction trades for adults exploring a career transition. The Building Trades "Core" was developed as a national industry credential by the National Apprenticeship and Training Directors in the construction industry to establish, for the first time, a standardized pre apprenticeship for entry into any of the crafts in the Building Trades.

The Puget Sound Skills Center in King County's Highline School District and the Wenatchee Skills Center in Eastern Washington are among the first in the nation to pilot the Multi-Craft Core Curriculum. The Training Centers are creating new opportunities for many in the communities they serve to earn a family sustaining wage while earning the credentials for a career in the construction industry.

'We in the Building Trades are pledged to building these partnerships with the Puget Sound and Wenatchee Skills Centers," McGarvey said. "They share our commitment to preparing young people and adults for careers in the construction industry. And like us, they have shown they are determined to help students and workers reach informed career choices by providing knowledge about the training path required."

Industry leaders and local educators are offering the media a tour of the Puget Sound Skills Center [18010 8th Avenue South, Burien, WA 98148] at 2:15 p.m. on October 28.

"Washington State's skills centers offer students the proper instructional attention, space and industry interaction to achieve pre apprenticeship basic skills," said Dave Johnson, Executive Secretary of the Washington State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO.

"Apprenticeship in the trades provides affordable, earn while you learn, collegiate pathways that can lead to engineering, project management and design service professions for the next generations of creative thinkers and problem solvers," Johnson said. "These students will help shape and fuel the technological changes that green our industries like construction and manufacturing."

The national Building and Construction Trades Department selected these two pilots based on Washington's unique apprenticeship utilization laws for public works construction, strides made to build a seamless P-20 Career and Technical Education system, and for their recognition and political leadership to return pre apprenticeship in the 21st century model of education reform.

Wednesday's tour includes: