A new partnership between Springfield Public Schools and the Paul Mueller Company will allow a handful of students to get experience in a future career path while getting paid.
Students will receive competitive pay, up to $25 an hour, according to SPS, while getting hands-on experience with state-of-the-art equipment. They will also receive education credits toward graduation.
A signing day for the Registered Youth Apprenticeship was held Monday at the SPS Kraft Administrative Center. Five students signed forms finalizing their enrollment in the welding and grinding pathway: Drake Owen, Hayden Garretson and Micah Powell at Kickapoo High School; Garrett Dickens at Parkview; and Bella Moser at Glendale. A sixth student, Gustavo Dos Santos at Kickapoo, will be taking another pathway in heating and air conditioning with the school district as part of the Registered Youth Apprenticeship.
"We're celebrating these students who are committing to rigorous, high level registered apprenticeships that demand excellence, discipline and a drive to learn," said SPS Superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan.
Moser, a junior at Glendale High School, is just about finished with a program through Ozarks Tech that’s allowed her to try welding.
"Right now, with school in OTC, we only get like an hour to weld each," she said. "I'm really hoping this will help me, like, get a little bit more time because it honestly is really fun."
Mary Edgerton, director of College and Career Readiness with SPS, said the new program allows the district to offer another opportunity for students to be ready to join the workforce once they earn their diploma. She said there were already many options, such as job shadowing, internships and guest speakers, to let students learn about possible future careers.
"This is the first that allows students who really already kind of know what they want to do, go ahead and get started learning that trade and being paid while they're learning that trade," she said.
The Registered Youth Apprenticeship isn't just job training, said Brandon Adamick, sales and marketing director with Paul Mueller, "it's a real pathway to a rewarding career right here in Springfield."
Lathan told the students she was proud of them.
"You are the pioneers of this program," she said. "You're showing your peers that there are many different ways to define success at the high school."
