Good morning folks. Oh, the microphone is on. Good morning everybody. This is an enthusiastic group Does my heart good to see it. Let me try it again. Good morning everybody. Oh, that's so much better Welcome. Good morning. It's just a joy to see you all here and as feel the energy in the room My name is Cecilia Munoz. I'm a vice president here at New America for public interest technology and local initiatives And my job is mostly to welcome you Because this is a really big day for us and I'm incredibly excited to be here and I can tell others are excited to be here, too Which is great This organization New America is a civic platform that brings Research tech expertise storytelling and a range of other tools to the task of renewing America and very importantly We being a very strong belief that the key to achieving renewal across the country is to work locally There are good people in DC developing and disseminating ideas that will all and that will always be important work But there are also very importantly good people all over the country doing innovative and inspiring things to renew their communities every day we want to be their partners and in particular we want to lift up the best ideas the stuff that works in people's lives Things we can measure and move around the country and replicate across geographies The partnership to advance youth apprenticeship, which we now lovingly know as Paya is a great example of this work It includes a national element convening national partners to advance research on what works Helping policymakers and the public understand the big picture for youth apprenticeship, but it's very locally focused We have partners in communities all across the country We will be connecting change makers and local communities with each other all across the country to exchange ideas best practices to support each other's work and Will be supporting local partners directly as they do their work in their communities So this is not your typical think tank body of work And the reason for that is that we're addressing a vitally important set of challenges which people in this room know really well Our education and employment systems struggle to serve our young people well Too many students are disengaged to high school and have difficulty navigating their options after graduation Students lack affordable post-secondary opportunities and information about what the labor market really needs and Too many graduates find out too late that a degree alone is not enough to secure a good job all the time They also need networks work experience the social capital to connect in today's labor market And we know that there are persistent serious equity gaps in education and employment outcomes At the same time employers of all sizes struggle to fill well-paying jobs in fields like information technology healthcare advanced manufacturing and business services These employers that connect with and invest in raising the next generation of diverse talent Will be the ones that are best positioned to access the nimble workforce that they need to compete and to grow So we think that youth apprenticeship is a really really important part of the solution It's a known model that provides a clear structured pathway for young people that can serve as a foundation to their career and educational goals And it's a cost-effective talent strategy for employers to build the flexible workforce that they need Part of what we're going to do today is challenge that the classic assumptions about the limits of youth apprenticeship in this country Here's what we think it can and does work across a number of industries and jobs in our economy You're going to hear about that today For employers, this is not about charity or even corporate social responsibility It's about human resources and changing the way they recruit and develop talent to see a return. You're going to hear about that today For students, it's not about an alternative to college Rather, it's an affordable and compelling pathway through post-secondary education. You're going to hear more about that today It's about expanding the work-based learning experiences that we know are important and making them accessible for every student It's not about narrow training for a single job But it's a critical foundation for succeeding in a 21st century economy For our young people to become lifelong learners and for our employers to become learning organizations To make this work there's work to do at the national level But the key is partnerships that form at the state and local level. These partnerships can be a transformational thing And I'm going to introduce to a special guest to share a bit about what that means His name's Marquell Rolex Smalls. He's here from St. George, South Carolina. He's currently a student at Clemson University He's majoring in mechanical engineering He's also a bearing technician at Aero bearings LLC and aerospace bearing manufacturer All of which is to say that Marquell is a very busy man But what you also need to know is that he started his journey with Aero bearings as a youth apprentice Still during his senior year at Woodland High School in 2015 as part of the Charleston regional youth apprenticeship program He has a great and inspiring story to tell and I'm honored to introduce him to tell it. Please help me welcome Marquell Good morning, everyone I'm gonna start off by giving you guys a brief a brief story of how I became a youth apprentice It was the start of my junior or midway through my junior year. We just came back off of Christmas break It was that January of 2015 My robotics teacher was which is also my first cousin he brought it up He brought it up after school one day in robotics and he was like, yeah, you know this is this is gonna be the future and Me and my cousin are like, oh, maybe we should try it out. So it just so happened that There's this event called the Charleston Engineering Joint Council Council conference It goes on every January to February and it's at the end of our build season so he went to this event and the Dean of Trident happened to be there and she talked about the event that same night and The next day at school we met up with our guidance counselor, Miss Middleton Got our information and that March literally the day after she gave it gave me the packet from Trident With my resume and all that information in it I turned it in the next day And then I went I got three interviews one adventure One out of German company and another one at IFR IFRA Rotary in Charleston, and I only went to two because right after venture they they really I really fell in love with that Company they had all the things I wanted. It was big, but not as big But the plant leader had a good relationship with every single employee there and I really love that one-on-one interaction And then the rest is history. I Fell in love with that company. I still work there to this very day. I go there during breaks I always talk to my employees when I'm at school. They're they're they're really fun people to be around They're like a second family to me But the apprenticeship for me It wasn't a way it wasn't another it wasn't a way out of going to college because I still wanted to go to college That was number one on my list to do go to Clemson national champions by the way I I Still wanted to go to go to college. I wanted to get my degree. That was number one on my list It just gave me a second way of getting there not every student is going to have a 33 or 32 on the ACT or score really Well on the SAT I wasn't one of those kids. I wasn't good at taking standardized tests So it gave me another way of getting there because I I was going to do whatever I had to do to get to Clemson and The youth apprenticeship was something that I could put on my scholarship application application and on my resume that not all students have So going through that it helped me Manage my time it helped me stay focused because there's days making a an hour drive to school and 45-minute drive to work Monday through Friday having classes start at 745 cost taking college courses Through my high school at Trident in the morning and I would go to school for 50 minutes for cow one and I would drive the Charleston Five days or four days for machining classes and then on Fridays. I would work. So doing that every day It was hard, but it was worth it in the long run. I'm at Clemson now going. This is my second year. They Started my first semester of my second year there And a lot of people would think oh, you're gonna be behind missing out on your first year of college not true I have classes that some of my other junior Classmates don't have they have classes. I don't have so we're even you know, we're gonna graduate at the same time So yeah, it doesn't put you behind my most the most exciting thing About the apprenticeship happened to me this summer. I came back as an engineering intern And I was able to make these iris IRC gauges that we use in in component inspection and it's the last thing we do before we send the bearings out to GE and they're being placed on airplanes that we all took here So I was making IRC gauges and an IRC gauge simply just checks the Out of roundness of a bearing to make sure it's it's a circle It's perfect circle or as close as perfect as possible. So it checks within the millions and tenths of an inch so super super tiny and I Designed two of them. So that inspection for one of mine one of my co-workers named Kip I made that inspection process go down by like 40% so it's 40% faster than what it was And I designed it from using CAD and solidworks that I learned in school Through Trident and Katia. I use in X is a design software for aerospace. I designed it in in X Made it on the mill because I'm a certified machinist and then we tried it it worked And I went on and made a second one and they're using them to this very day. It's in our system So if it breaks, they just got to send it out get it made again or call me. I'll come back and make another one But yeah, it was it's things like that and there's not a lot of college students that are 20 or 21 I can be like, oh, I made this part from my job and made a process faster. I Have an associate's degree as well I have my journeyman's credentials Not a lot of kids can say that at the age of 20 and then make 14 dollars an hour in high school And have two years work experience once they leave high school with all these other accolades So yeah, the entrepreneurship is like a one-in-a-lifetime experience. It's definitely worth it and If I had to give advice to a student that wants to go or wants to do it, I Would tell them It's not gonna be easy But the fun is gonna outweigh the hard parts and there wasn't really any bad parts about it It was just hard. It was just it was just hard some days But the fun parts are gonna outweigh that and if you put yourself around people that are gonna push you It's gonna be it's gonna be one one good ride all the way through to two-year program. Yeah, thank you Well for having me Thank you, Mark. Well Hard act to follow there Thank you so much and thank you Cecilia My name is Brent Parton. I'm the deputy director of the center in education skills here at New America I'm gonna stick to the basics because I think you just heard from Cecilia and Marquell a lot about why we're here today And why we're launching this initiative I Am going to tell you a little bit about what exactly the partnership to youth to advance youth apprenticeship is We as Cecilia laid out so well the case for this We do believe that youth apprenticeship is a strategy for building a more inclusive economy by linking the needs of students And linking the needs of employers What that really means in very plain language is the partnerships that make youth apprenticeship work the things that Marquell Participated in are exactly what this initiative is going to aim to grow We believe that states and cities are key leverage points for these partnerships to come together and from a both policy Strategy standpoint we want to be able to support the success of those partnerships So partnership to advance youth apprenticeship Paya. There's a few definitional words in there that I'm not gonna dwell on too long We've got a nice Principles document with some of these definitions in it that is online for all of you live streaming right now But also you in the room to dig into this in detail But I do want to lay out a few things Apprenticeship means something apprenticeship meets these several core criteria that we lay out It is paid structured work-based learning It is related instruction in a post-secondary setting in the classroom And it's an ongoing assessment against clear standards to ensure what people are building out of these experiences Are meeting the competencies and skills they need to get jobs done and it's aligned with careers And what we mean by that too is that it is culminating in a post-secondary credential that's truly portable and broadly recognized by industry When we say youth apprenticeship We're putting a youth in front of there because we are actually talking about these programs are explicitly designed to serve high school students It's complex does not mean that these programs only Exclusively sometimes serve high school students But there are serious design Contemplations and issues to make sure that these programs are accessible to someone that's balancing the work in the high school work in a classroom But also the highly structured work-based learning so youth apprentices about the promise of connecting young people Starting in high school in those final years of high school to enter into these opportunities Partnership is a bit of an easier word to define But partnership means several things when it comes to pie and something I want to be very clear about Is that paya is a partnership? It's a partnership across national organizations that include advanced CTE career-wise, Colorado the Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeship Program Education Strategy Group JFF the National Alliance for Partnerships and Equity the National Fund for Workforce Solutions and the National Governors Association You are all in this room now. I'm gonna implore you to stand for a second. Come on. It's the morning time Thank you all so much We can't do this work alone at New America Just putting this document together and releasing today took a lot of time and effort and working with our partners to understand What high-quality youth apprenticeship is so you bring extensive experience and expertise to this We're so thankful to have you be partners in this initiative as it goes forward Whoops Youth apprenticeship is also a partnership in another way There are multiple organizations that have come together to support the partnership to advance youth apprenticeship We got together over the past year several times to talk about what the needs of this field are So the A&E Casey Foundation Bloomberg Philanthropies the Balmer Group the Joyce Foundation JP Morgan Chasen Company and the Siemens Foundation. Thank you all as well for your support for this work I'm sticking with the partnership thing one more time. These have become known as the triangles Youth apprenticeship is a partnership and this is the lens by which we're looking through this work While it is about connecting high school students to apprenticeship opportunities to make these programs work requires a partnership across not Only the high schools and the employers but post-secondary as well as well as critical partners They often use the word intermediaries that are coordinating the experience to make it work We profiled those partnerships extensively in a body of research that we released last year But supporting these partnerships at the state and local level is at the key to what partnership to advance youth Apprenticeship is about these partnerships exist across the country There are several states featured here that are trying to figure out how to grow those partnerships Or how to expand them But how we're going to support that is important to share with you all today One we do believe that it's important to build public awareness and understanding about youth apprenticeship Again, it's challenging assumptions But there is a lot of learning to be done in this field as well So the partnership advanced youth apprenticeship is going to work to advance that understanding We're going to understand how it works in addition to how well it works So a big focus of what the work of the partnership is going to do is to bring together a lot of the folks that are Doing this work on the ground as well as folks that are interested to understand What does it mean to put these strategies together to build these partnerships and have them work to serve the needs of students employers and communities And most importantly as well We are going to directly support the success of those partnerships succeed between our national partners We are going to provide both grants as well as technical assistance to partnerships that are existing that want to grow improve in scale as well as support high potential efforts in new states and cities that want to expand youth apprenticeship programs So stay tuned for that. There will be a request for proposals coming out. Please follow pie on that front It's going to be a key part of the work that drives how we tell stories as well as how we better understand What the outcomes that these programs produce can be So in short learning and research Connecting the leaders out there who are doing this important work in the field. They come from very different places We have community colleges. We have employers and industry leaders. We have civic entrepreneurs We have this really interesting group of people that are involved with youth apprenticeship Creating a space for them to come together and talk just youth apprenticeship is going to be a really important part of understanding How to advance this field as a whole and then also of course that direct support is something that we're going to continue To have lots of announcements and roll out over over the coming months But today is about taking the step back and hearing a little bit about what youth apprenticeship is as well as sharing What it means to provide a clear vision of idea of what this field is about the reason for that is Practitioners need clear guidance about what it means to set up high quality youth apprenticeship programs and to be aspirational This field can be transformational and what we're trying to do is say what are those principles to ensure this field lives up to transformation? Again, I'm going to reference this document if you want to read in depth about all these principles But I do want to touch on what they are just for a few moments here first and foremost Youth apprenticeship is career oriented and what we mean by that is in terms of how students learn And how they are blending learning in the classroom as well as learning on the job as well as what they learn The skills and competencies that they learn are aligned to be productive employees But they're also aligned to create a foundation for someone in a good job in a career where they can create family sustaining wages As well as job advancement. So youth apprenticeship situates the learning around the career That's equitable youth apprenticeship programs are rigorous. They're competitive. There are high quality experiences for that reason We do think that they can advance equity and they can create access to affordable post-secondary credentials They can create access to highly structured paid work-based learning that creates the networks in the social capital that many folks do not always have access to But to achieve that they have to be deliberately designed to do that Youth apprenticeship does stand upon a labor market as well as an education system that is fundamentally inequitable So if these programs are intended to advance equity equity has to be in the center of design about how these programs are Developed and that's going to be a guiding principle for payas work Portable what we mean by portable is that as Mark well shares and in bodies youth apprenticeship is not an ends It's not just to get one type of job done while it's connecting high school students It's fundamentally in its structure the program is a post-secondary experience So the learning should be recognized within our formal post-secondary system That's so important for students and parents that want to see youth apprenticeship as a way to and through higher education Not an alternative to it, but also so people can advance in their careers Let's face it degrees still remain within career pathways critical choke points to ensure people can advance over time So ensuring youth apprenticeship leads to true college credit and post-secondary learning that can be recognized and built upon over time Is a key principle of the work we do? Adaptable that same issue of ensuring that these programs are not ends applies to industry when industry invests in a youth apprentice They're making a real investment in time and resources of the people on the front line as well as the direct wages and in many cases Pain for the post-secondary elements of the program as well But that to realize that investment to guard against the risk that young people you know as we know They're not always going to stay at one company The to the extent that the learning the element of a youth apprenticeship is designed across an industry or a sector It's really a talent strategy. It's not just to fill one job So multiple employers coming together to design these programs and collaborate Creates the incentives where there's an access to a talent pool for a whole industry to make that work The learning that happens needs to be broadly recognized by an industry as well So industry recognized credentials play a big role in youth apprenticeship But also the how the skills and competencies develop should not be tailored to the single needs of just one employer But again to an industry as a whole Then finally accountable comes back to that red triangle in the middle of the other triangle youth apprenticeship straddles this world of work and Education someone needs to be accountable for the entire experience apprentices are practically moving across learning settings employers are doing something different working with very different partners How we are able to be accountable for the entire experience as a whole to look at its outcomes to support the success of all the employer Student community partners involved takes capacity takes someone to do the work So what we are saying is that youth apprenticeship needs to be a holistic experience that is accountable to the outcomes for the people It aims to serve So you can read more about these principles I could go on all day about these I promised but I'm not going to do that to you today With the documents available online We also have outcomes to under in that document as well that shows how do you can assess to the extent to which programs are meeting These principles they are intended to be aspirational though. We want to push the field forward So in short stay tuned You'll be getting research and updates from a lot of the work that we're doing over the course of this next few years With paya the grant request proposals is coming out this winter Please reach out contact us for more information on that to ensure you have updates as well as we will be hosting a national meeting I'd like to announce in Charleston, South Carolina on March 11th and 12th for a broader community of interest That wants to learn more and see youth apprenticeship in action as well as for the practitioners are doing the work on the ground That's enough from me because now we're here to talk about how these programs work So to start I'd like to go ahead and introduce James Fallows We are very excited that James if you could come join me up here on the stage is here to open this with us today James is the was actually was a founding chairman new america's board of directors. We're very honored to have him speak He is a highly acclaimed author editor media commentator Including releasing this year the book our towns a hundred thousand mile journey across the heart of america our towns is exciting I'm not going to take James thunder about talking about why work so have him talk about why it's important to Explore these themes with youth apprenticeship But the idea of deliberate public-private partnerships to solve shared challenges in our communities is what youth apprenticeship is about And it's what you've seen across the country. So with that, I'm going to hand over to James. Thank you Thanks very much Brent. Thanks Mark. Well, thanks Cecilia. Thanks to you all for coming here It's really a particular satisfaction for me to be part of this this whole event this presentation this morning's discussions For a variety of confluences are coming together I'm just going to spend two or three minutes setting them up and then introduce the panel to talk about one of the exciting Practical practical illustrations of what Paya is designed to promote and spread across the country as Brent mentioned I've been with new America since its beginning 20 years ago was part of the idea of how we would put together this sort of different think tank and Influence center in a good way in Washington DC. So it's been wonderful to see it evolve over the decades It's been particularly exciting in the past couple of years under Anne-Marie Slaughter and her team to see new America focus on All this local level renewal and reinvention in in going on across the country Which is what Paya is is part of this is of particular interest to me because of what Brent mentioned to what Deb and I My wife have been doing in the past five years now of traveling across the country and And the the message we tried to get across in our book our towns is that at just the moment when national politics as we all know is in such a state of division and negativity and impossibility and tribal warfare warfare in the sense of anything I gain you lose and just Doing a really poor job of Matching the nation's great potential resources with its even greater or at least as great challenges What just that moment when national politics is discouraging to everyone? Regardless of political orientation. You cannot feel very good about the way our national politics is Is bringing people together or marshaling the nation's resources at this moment? Across the country. We see young people like Marquel. We see People the next generation like those we're going to be interviewing. We see corporations. We see Governmental institutions. We see civic leaders. We see volunteers Trying to address these the nation's problems city by city region by region state by state We have movements in career technical education. We have movements in conservation. We have movements in downtown Restoration we have movements and libraries. We have a sense of this great sort of Conflict for the future of the country between the national level and its negativity and the local and regional level and its promise Recognizing all the problems we have of inequalities and drug abuse and law enforcement and every other problem You can name we see this tension of people feeling they can renew Reinvent recreate this country and try to have a better future. So that's the general picture of why Deb and I are so supportive of what New America is doing and what this alliance is doing I'll say one more word about this particular subject and why I think even beyond the specific Illustrations we're going to talk about through that this morning. I think it's worth Recognizing the historical moment we're in and why these kinds of apprenticeships and alliances matter so much As I believe the senior person in the room in terms of living on earth I can say that that something lesson of my own lifetime as an American and living around the world for many years And my lessons as a student of American and economic history is that the drama of American economic development is that Every decade something really disruptive happens You look at any stage in American history from the 1780s are so onward and there's always something disruptive Happening people are having to leave the farm or wanting to leave the farm People are working for the buggy whip industry and then they are not anymore They are moving from the coast to the the Midwestern Interior to start new factories. They're moving away from the Midwest because those factories run down They're working in coal mines, then they're not working in coal mines. They're going through this endless disruption What we know from history is that? eventually these these disruptions work themselves out Eventually people find new jobs in new places new things to do But there are Crueler ways to make that adjustment and there are better ways to make that adjustment The crueler ways are the many many great migrations of all sorts of different kinds of people of all different Courses across the country in which people have fled hardship and looked for opportunity My hometown in inland, California was mainly built by people who were fleeing either The Midwest and South during the bus dust bowl or fleeing Mexico during the Mexican Revolution We all have parallel stories. I think everybody's family If anybody in this audience you think back a generation or two your family's probably been part of of this brute force adjustment But there are also better adjustments that have happened through our history And I'm thinking for example of the GI Bill after World War two where for all of its Imperfections for all of its inequalities for the people who were dealt in and dealt out still that was a way in which people tried to adjust the the Resources of that era to the people who were looking for that opportunity in that era And so we find we know through our history that in crude ways adjustments happen But there are better times and better examples in our history where you we've been able to look ahead and match Young people coming up who are looking for chances with each new era as chances We know that during this era. There are a lot of opportunities that have gone away We've spent a lot of time Not in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, which we're going to discuss in a few moments But in upstate South Carolina in Greenville and Spartanburg and Greer and the neighboring cities Which a generation and a half ago were mainly textile economies now almost nobody works in textiles there And so we've seen that kind of adjustment happening its counterparts have happened all over the country with with You know heavy manufacturing and all the rest But we also know that this same era has brought a new crop of opportunities in skilled technical fields in the automotive and aerospace industries that in South Carolina in particular are Creating new opportunities in clean energy fields across the country and so again it's a matter of creating the matches of For a new generation of employees whose parents might have worked in heavy factories that aren't there anymore Or in farms that are being reorganized or in other kinds of businesses for that next generation To be prepared for Sort of oriented towards and matched to the new opportunities of this era That's what we heard from our quell that's what that my wife Deb and I have seen around the country seen in Mississippi and Georgia and Central Valley, California and in Oregon And we're just about to hear from it now in another 30 seconds So in Charleston, South Carolina with a specific illustration So the big picture I would offer to all of you is that we are all We in this room I'm speaking as if we're all allies because I hope to be in the future We in this room are counterparts around the country people in high schools and community colleges and alliances and every place else are Finding ways to make the right rather than the wrong adjustment in this period of opportunity We know from history that new opportunities will come up But if we can get ahead of them and find ways to have people be excited and to have Companies be located in cities where there are willing and available workers That's much better than the alternative of the brute force which brings with it all the family disruption The economic inequality the political turmoil and all the rest so that is why I am very happy to be here To for this session as a whole and for the panel about to moderate and I'm going to ask you I'm going to introduce briefly Three eminent people who lost to join me on the stage you can read more about their full backgrounds I'm going to see the plan of who is sitting where so I know the exact the right order in which to introduce my colleagues here So in just a moment you're going to see Me I'm going to be on the far side there and with me is going to be Dr. Garida Post-Await who is the superintendent of the Charleston County Schools will be sitting plea I'm going to be sitting on the far side. Dr. Post-Await will be next to me She's been served as chair of the of the State Board of Education She has been a founder of many of the institutions and organizations were talking about the innovation lab network and co-founded transform South Carolina Next her is going to be chase and Claire who's the vice president for develop development in the Charlton Mestrow Chamber of Commerce Who's been very involved crucially involved and putting together these partnerships and then Catherine Elmquist Who is vice president for academic affairs of Trident Technical College? Which is the institution that has played a crucial role in these transformations? So great opposed to eight chase and Claire and Catherine Elmquist, please join me and we'll begin the discussion So thank you all very much. So I'm going to begin with Chase and Claire if I could could you just give us some of the basic background We're going to be talking about Charleston the partnerships you've all been involved in the way they've tried to Make opportunities for people of young people like Marquell and for the businesses are there Can you start out tell it giving us this sort of the economic landscape of Charleston? What was what's the problem you all are trying to solve? Thank you for this opportunity. I'm really thrilled to be here So the story of Charleston over the last 20 years is truly one of change The late 90s Brought a brat closure of our naval base and Charleston was primarily a service-based economy because of our significant tourism industry But when that naval base closed 22,000 jobs left our community and really devastated the community for a while So the community began to evolve from that opportunity into what today is a very stem-based economy Over the last 15 years. We've brought in companies like Boeing Volvo or Volvo Mercedes-Benz vans who have turned our economy into a really focused stem-based economy for the jobs that are available that the Charleston Metro Chamber is Really pleased to be involved in this collaboration because we are a member organization of the businesses and industries in our community And we've heard them Vocalize many many times that they need skilled labor for all these amazing Jobs that are in our area. And so we are really focused and find it Very important to give our local students the opportunity to have the skills To move into these great jobs instead of the companies having to look outside of our borders For the labor that they need we want to make sure our local students have that opportunity and the the Charleston Metro Chamber is uniquely aligned To bring the power to bear of our business community to support this opportunity We're also We the one of our primary roles that we play is through funding helping to bring funding to this apprenticeship program the students the Chamber underwrites Some of the cost of the fees tuition books and industry-specific tools that the apprentices need to be successful in their jobs and their training and so we work with our members our Business members in the community through a project called accelerate greater Charleston to raise those funds That we work with tried and tech to underwrite the cost of those fees And so that makes it a more level playing field for the students to be involved and brings that equity to the program that's really important and then also the Chamber is a Player and has been a player for a long time with our educational community through data driven reporting that we do to help inform a lot of The decision-making that goes along with our education pathways through talent demand study and dr. Post-await has a common skills report that the Chamber helped create helps make sure that our Education pathways are aligned with our Workforce needs and so we're really pleased to be part of this collaboration and exciting to see in Five short years how we've gone from just a handful of apprentices to nearly a hundred apprentices now So it's growing like that Let me ask just one follow-up question before asking to hear about the the school's role in this partnership Has there been any resistance from your business? Constituency within the Chamber of saying why do we need to do this? Let's just let the market solve the problem Why should we spend any money? Why should we get involved? Well, they're the ones that are looking for solutions. They're all fighting for the same worker and That that doesn't go very long and it doesn't bode very well for long-term success of a company so We've been They're a cheerleader for this program simply because it helps them solve a problem and a critical need for their own long-term success if we can help empower and Build the skills of our local talent They can walk into these jobs and be successful long term which means long-term success for the businesses So it makes sense. Great. Thank you. And as part of this sort of setting the landscape I'd like to hear now from dr. Post wait about the school's Perspective on all this. How did you decide to get involved where the pluses and minuses? What's the overview from the school systems point of view which that you run? Excuse me this opportunity as one that will help drive systemic Transformative change in the system. We've inherited a school system as has everyone else in this country That was designed for a different era to do very different things It's a batch processing system that gives all the children the same amount of time and virtually the same learning conditions When we know that there's great variation in the way that children learn and the amount that they have already Assimilated before they come to school. So That the key point I want to get across is that we view this opportunity as an opportunity to change the way our system works Very quickly. I'll tell you where like the Welsh congregation that made three decisions The first decision the Welsh congregation made was that they want to build a new church The second decision they made was that they had some very valuable Foundational stones that were important to their church that they wanted to use as the foundation for the new church And the third decision they made was that they're going to stay in the old church while they build the new church so you can see the problems there with Public education in Charleston County We have a very tragic history in 1835 two attorneys from Charleston who represented the area in the state legislature introduced legislation that was passed that for bad anyone to educate a person of color and Imposed very very strict penalties including public flogging for anyone who would educate a person of color we live now with the vestiges of that sort of of history in 1968 the Charleston County School District entered into a an agreement to divide our district into eight Constituent districts in order to avoid a federal desegregation order, but for those of you who can see These are graphs of our elementary schools and a graph That is all the same color means that there are fewer than 20 children of a different race in that school So over two-thirds of our schools are still racially identifiable We have some of the highest performing schools in the country and we have some of the lowest performing schools in the state So our opportunity is to close the opportunity gap and in order to do that We have to significantly change the way we're doing things. So the Chambers report telling us for all of the of the major Employment fields the common skills both academically and Socially and in terms of work ethic that children need In order to get into the apprenticeship programs gives us Exactly what we need to talk about readiness what we need in education today And I'll close lest I go on forever What we need in education today is a much clearer and more relevant definition of readiness Carnegie unit is a is an outmoded notion of readiness it doesn't mean anything and So what this program has done for us is to make is to bring with? Crystalline clarity what our students need to be able to do in order to open a door for a possibility at Boeing or Volvo or inter tech we have pockets of Generational poverty and if we understand what readiness on a trajectory looks like for children as they exit elementary school As they exit middle school and as they come into high school it redefines for us How how we are accountable for our mission because the state and federal? Accountability systems that we live with now are not helpful in that regard So it helps us align the system to ensure that we are clear on our mission And that we are doing everything we can to make sure every child is on a trajectory of readiness to do one of four things score 31 on the as Vab test and Be qualified to go into the military or get into an apprenticeship program finish a career certification Enter our local colleges without having to take remedial courses So that's what we're holding ourselves accountable for at every level and we see the apprenticeship program as a key driver in that effort Great. Thank you, and there are many follow-ups. I'd like to ask you to but for the moment I'm just going to turn for initial setup to Catherine on quest Trident technical college has played a really unusual and in a good way role in this transformation in Charleston Talk about a softball setup. So so tell us tell us why Trident is involved in this process and what you think others can learn from your experience well try to technical college is the comprehensive community college in a Region around Charleston, South Carolina, and that region includes three counties and four different school districts It became very clear to us from the very beginning That if we wanted to have an apprenticeship program that was going to tie together K-12 the college and employers somebody was going to have to serve as the hub for that activity somebody was going to have to be the place where there was some Central activity for for record keeping for onboarding for all of those things that had to happen It did not make sense for that to be the K-12 system There are four of them that would require every employer to work with four different school districts It also didn't make sense for it to be the employers had we had we had the employers Be that central group that was working on this we would still have apprenticeships in one industry Because you'd have to reinvent the wheel every time the one Organization that was going to be central to all of this was going to be us It was going to be tried at technical college And so it only made sense that we step up and say will be the hub in the wheel will be the group that Coordinates with the employers and K-12 and pulls the people together to discuss design and then implement each of these apprenticeships and and what has I Think that was not internally generated here. I think So so what has been Was the main challenge turning point or lesson along the way was anytime when you got discouraged and thought we can't do this hub Activity but or what's you know? Tell us the lessons of the arc of your being involvement here that you want to share with other other Regents I will just say I've been incredibly blessed to have an assistant vice president for community community partnerships Who does not understand the word?  So she she has been the She's been the plow that just cuts through red tape every single time Have there been hurdles along the way? hundreds Hundreds of them and there are still hurdles out there and there are some big hurdles that are huge Challenges for us and to be honest with you funding is going to be one of them. That is one that we are continuing to struggle with because We are committed all of us are committed to making sure that we implement an apprenticeship program that is completely equitable completely equitable and that means that it has to be as Accessible to students who come from families without as it is to students who come from families who have We cannot have an apprenticeship program that simply provides high-paying jobs To children who come from families where there are already high-paying jobs Because of that sustainable funding is one of our big challenges I would say it's the one that we have not yet been able to quite solve. We are Working at it every single day and right now our methodology is is basically a patchwork quilt We're trying to piece together different funding sources to try to To try to to make a program that's going to be sustainable for the future So there's just one other theme I we have a finite amount of times I want to stress one other theme that connects your experience with Charleston It's implications for the rest of the country and what this whole Pi a program is about in the long run, which is all the different Aspects of equity inclusion Equality you know the American dream and American idea which has run through all of your comments from the specific racial burden of the Charleston schools and those many other parts of the US to sustainability and how you do this Let me start with you again Shay the as you think as you try to put together the various industries that are part of your your coalition How Are they already on board with the idea that they have to create a diverse Inclusive equitable program for a city like Charleston or has that been a sales job or persuasion job you've had to do I? Don't feel like it's been a sales job. I think they innately understand it because of our population makeup. I think We've all been It's just been woven into the fabric of where we want this program to go So it's just a primary element of it So I we haven't I haven't noticed any pushback on that element specifically have you I would just say Employers are actually driving that Employers tell us that they they value diversity and they want to see a Diverse workforce and if anything they've been a little Disappointed with us in education that we haven't been able to provide that I think that's one of the key elements that has brought business and industry Into this model is a recognition that If if you can't just take the product of somebody else's work And it's going to be perfect then maybe you need to get engaged in helping to make it be the product that you want they're they're They're all vying for the same employee and so I think they've Come to discover that they need to be part of the system to help grow their own employee and you know if a student can from 16 years old Be involved in training at a you know the bowing way They're much more likely to move right into a position and a job a permanent job there Right out of high school and so it makes perfect sense for them to grow their own I'm gonna turn a version of this question on you from your role as a superintendent of the schools It happens that most of the cases that Deb and I have seen of successful apprenticeships have been in the Old South They've been in Mississippi, and they've been in Georgia. They've been other parts of South Carolina parts of North Carolina We've also seen some in California and and Argonne is there is that just coincidence or is there any Experience that you think southern states southern school districts have differentially to provide the rest of the country I Think that's a difficult question to address, but I will say I I'm very hopeful Despite the polarization we see nationally we experience that in every community But I do think our country has come to a time And place where the moral imperative that many of us have felt for all of our lives is is occurring at Coming to the forefront growing at the same time that the economic necessities of global competitiveness in a high information age Have have brought us to a new place. So I I am very encouraged By the coalition of people who want change who want a better quality of life For all of America's children and our willingness to be more vocal and more courageous about that That doesn't mean it will be easy But it is it is In the South an acknowledgement that that our history is tragic and our future Must represent our better selves Here is one last sort of summary statement question I have for each of you to see if we have we may or may not have Time for question from the audience so but but it's one of the main ambitions of this entire program which which I really support and I'm excited about is Connecting people around the country who are doing similar things and might not be aware of it and having ways to share Lessons share successes share setbacks just doing better together Recognizing that we are all part of something larger if you are on the stump right now and you are sort of on the stump We have this crowd here, and we have you know a live stream audience. This will be archived What is the the distilled message of your experience and we'll go down starting with you Catherine down the panel of What's the sentence or two you would like your? Counterparts from community colleges or coordinating groups in other parts of the country What's the main thing you would like to tell them about your experience? Here is what you should do here's what you should know To my counterparts in community colleges, I would say Examine the question. What if we're wrong? We have a higher ed system that is built a particular way is implemented a particular way and is Pretty much been unchanged for decades What if that's not the right way? What if we're wrong? What if there is a better way to educate our students? What if there is a better way to prepare the next generation of workers and and to ensure that we have an Educated workforce that's gonna carry us into the next 30 40 years Examine the question what if we're wrong? What if our traditional way? Isn't the best way and when you start those conversations and you join in with others from your community You just might find that you're on you're on the hunt for something really good Great. Thank you Shea your version of these stump speech the distilled lesson to your counterparts in business organizations around the country I Would say the value of apprenticeship is extraordinary in that As Kathy just noted a four-year degree isn't necessarily the only way to success anymore and a valuable apprenticeship Opportunity for a student who is prepared can the sky the sky's the limit and The value at a young age is while they're going through high school and have the support of a funded apprenticeship program They can graduate in and two years with little to no debt and so that is a significant Opportunity for a student to start out on such a better step than someone who might graduate from college and have significant college debt They're already a step ahead and so I would say the apprenticeship model is so valuable and It's time that we consider it as you know equally as important as a college degree Dr. Postley your distilled message to when you are at school superintendents conventions and other gatherings of that sort As educators we know that the purpose of public schools is to ensure that every child who comes to us Has more opportunities when he leaves us than he would have had had he not been with us The apprenticeship program gives clarity and relevance to what readiness for a better future means for every child We know that the system that we've inherited was not designed to do this and we have the opportunity To rethink retool and refresh. Let's do this So so we have so thank you those are excellent I think you all have careers in politics should you choose that path of having a distilled message or should politics change So as to become more inviting So who has a question or two there are microphones roving the audience to my if you raise your hand a microphone will come to you A microphone is over here. There is a hand. There is a microphone So microphone hers find your questioners and if you could briefly identify yourself, please Good morning. My name is Mark Peter Friday. I'm from the Maryland State Department of Education And we are just starting this youth apprenticeship initiative We started with pilot sites and now we're trying to expand it to a statewide model So my question a couple questions actually one is you talked about In terms of equity and access what we are finding is that transportation is a huge problem So I'm just wondering in terms of equity access issue. How are you responding to that? And you also mentioned the chamber helping to raise fees to offset some of the Expenses in terms of the material equipment supplies the students need and I guess my last question is how are you getting Employers to make that investment and the classroom related instruction that doesn't necessarily take place in a high school But that may be taking place at the college and so forth Right the practicalities of transportation investment, etc. Shea, why don't you start on that? so the question about the Tools and supplies that the chamber through our Accelerate Greater Charleston program currently we have 125 investors Who provide money that is split between our advocacy efforts and this talent work that it also includes our career Academy programs scholarships and youth apprenticeships The youth apprenticeships funding is focused on books fees tuition and the industry specific tools for example as student going into a culinary Job will need a set of knives which can cost seven eight hundred dollars So you can see those are Terribly expensive for us a young person to purchase so through the chamber funding grant funding funding through Trident Tech We're all as Kathy noted Putting together this patchwork quilt of opportunities to cover the growth of this program and the students involved One of our keys long term to the success. I believe Kathy talked about it is finding long-term funding We the chamber was felt it was really important to get involved because we needed to start it five years ago And we did we started grassroots and we jumped on board to be able to help as a financial partner in this But to continue to scale and grow we're going to need to find Talk to our through our advocacy work our state legislators our national legislators and Our local funders on how to build Long-term funding for this so do you have a brief addition on transportation in particular? We The chamber has been looking for a while for grants that can cover transportation. There are so many options bus passes Uber You know We're looking at the scale on how to address that because that is exactly a challenge that we're working on right now And we haven't found the magic Ingredient I will say it is part of the importance though of having these be paid apprenticeships Because that in and of itself can help to offset some of that inequity that you may find you don't want apprenticeships to only go to Children who can afford who have their own car and can afford to get to work so the the pay For some of our apprentices that paid in apprenticeship experiences is helping offset the cost But I would say to everyone don't let it sit there don't let it say well because they're paid They shouldn't have any transportation issues They're gonna have transportation issues and it's something we really do need to address. Thanks question over here. I believe Good morning. My name is Jita Mitchell. I'm a parent in Montgomery County of three daughters and owner of a small business and employment Staffing firm. I do have three questions that I think about this from an implementation perspective How large is the team say at Trident in the chamber and at the school system that collaborates together? Is it you know one person is designated as you talk about funding that something comes to mind and then also I'm curious of the percentage breakdown of say small businesses versus small medium large-sized companies that are actually involved From the employment side, you know if it's heavier on one one or the other well If we want to talk about the size of the people that are collaborating on this it's in the hundreds between employers school district personnel trident technical college personnel chamber personnel Hundreds of people are involved if you're talking about how many people are involved in that hub operation Seven eight eight But it was not eight when we started five years ago It was substantially fewer than that and it was actually add-on duties to people that were already busy working doing other things So as the program has grown as what we're doing has grown we've we've added We've added personnel to help with those efforts, but I would still say that even though there's eight They do have other responsibilities as well not just the youth apprenticeship program. We have an adult apprenticeship program They're also the group that's in charge of dual credit operations, so There is lots more to discuss, but there's not lots more time for us to discuss it right now So for them you can talk with all of our excellent panelists later on for now Please join me in thanking them start us off and powerful Story about one of the partnerships that's out there of course Charleston is what but one of them There's several other folks in this room You'll be hearing about today talk about other partnerships But we need to break down some of the critical elements of those partnerships and what it means and one of the most Arguably the most critical partner in this are the employers themselves Apprentices are employees So how apprenticeship fits into how a company develops recruits talent what it means for their incentives is incredibly important So our next question our next panel is to explore that and I'd like to invite our moderator up for that Dr. Mona Morshed Dr. Morshed is a Excuse me. She is also on the board here at New America But importantly she is the lead of the McKinsey and Company social responsibility agenda Come on up and a partner here in their Washington DC office We're incredibly excited to have her lead this discussion because she's a renowned global expert on issues at the Intersection of education and employment She's worked with a number of public and private institutions across the world on these issues of how to bring these worlds together to improve Education outcomes for young people. So in addition to Mona, I'll invite our panelists to come up as well and she will talk a little bit about who they are and We'll lead a really powerful discussion employers. Thank you Mona. Good morning So we're obviously going to be taking the employer lens in this conversation And so let me just introduce our panelists and I will say we have two courses. So I will try to manage that confusion So Chris Harrington. Yes, fantastic Is the director of operations and general manager of elastic therapy And then we have Lynn Strickland who is the executive director of aerospace joint apprenticeship committee and Chris Terrell Who is the CEO of her services? And so in this employer lens? Often within the education to employment dialogue There is a constant narrative around how do we get employers to participate even more? How do we get them to not only provide support and apprenticeship opportunities? But also resources and in particular, I'll just begin by framing just three facts that are often in The conversation and then really turn to the three of you to be able to address some of these. So first and foremost 40 percent of employers not just in the US, but globally will say that they cannot find the skills They need for even entry-level positions second fact is that in the US less than 10 percent of senior executives actually know what is the ROI of their recruitment and training investments and If they did know the ROI, you know over 60 percent say that they would actually invest more But the challenge is simply how to understand what the ROI actually is And then lastly over a third of companies would say again in the US that they are experiencing significant adverse consequences in terms of growth or Productivity or quality variations because they can't find the skills that they need. So with that and Chris Let me turn to you first the question around What actually is the pain point that you were experiencing that led you to Design and to participate in an apprenticeship program And I'd actually like to get that perspective from each of the three of you So that we use that as a springboard for a conversation about what does it take to actually address these pain points? So for us at elastic therapy, it really was the fact that we could not find the resources that we needed No matter what recruitment efforts that we applied we couldn't get the talent and what was worse if we looked at the The age of most of our technicians that that we did have They they kind of look like me. So that meant that they were going to age out in the next 10 to 15 years So we really had a dual problem. What are we going to do today? But more importantly, what are we going to do for sustainability? What are we going to do down the road? So it was a combination of those things that really led us towards the apprenticeship program In how you design the apprenticeship program, how did you specifically address those pain points? so again We're part of a consortium and We were we benefited from others that that had already had consortiums in North Carolina. So The way that we've approached it is there's a combination now 16 companies in partnership with the School systems in the county. So there's three different school systems Along with the community college So we're recruiting in the high schools and ultimately the program it's a continuum of starting in The the juniors so the rising seniors if you will In seniors targeting that demographic And getting them in the program before they graduate The state is actually Got a tuition Reimbursement waiver so the the tuition is waived for those students And they go into the program And they're they're working 32 hours at the companies learning on-a-job skills and They're going to school for eight hours or more a week So at the end of four years, they will have an associate's degree They will have earned roughly a hundred and twenty thousand dollars. They will be debt free They'll have in-demand skills and we'll have good employees now for us You know did did the research and found that most apprentices or youth apprentices that start There's probably an 80 percent 70 to 80 percent completion rate So 70 to 80 percent is pretty high and then what was more compelling is that 90 percent of those that complete Actually stayed with the company for at least five years. So to me, that's a pretty good return Excellent. I'm going to have more questions for you But Lynn please what was the pain point that you were experiencing and how did you design your the apprenticeship program to address it? Okay, so the pain point came from the employers the employers were letting us know that To everything that you spoke to they couldn't find individuals to fill entry-level positions Let alone middle-skilled positions. So Ajax as a entity has been around since 2008 and we've been conducting adult apprenticeship And we came about because employers went to our legislature and said hey, we have a seventy six billion dollar industry here Our pipeline is not big enough. We have an aging workforce We have increased global competition. We have rapidly changing technologies and we have an increased skills gap So we need to do something a little bit different. We need in addition to our workforce development system And so the state invested in apprenticeship in the aerospace originally in the aerospace industry And then now we follow up underneath a big umbrella of advanced Manufacturing because we work with a lot of different industries But all of the industries are experiencing the same thing They cannot find the quality that the they cannot find Individuals to fill positions and you have a mass exodus starting on the other half of that So what are we going to do? So the pinch point came Because of that. I mean that's a huge pinch point and so we wanted to broaden the pipeline of Qualified individuals into industry and so with the youth everything that we do as an organization We're a nonprofit, but we're an intermediary So we work with the colleges with our state apprenticeship agencies With our K through 12 systems now with the employers and the apprentices To be able to help to implement and to develop these programs So we took our youth apprenticeship and based upon our employer and printed adult apprenticeship programs because we also wanted to not only Provide youth with access and opportunities to be able to have hands-on real-world experiences It was funny when I was flying in and we landed I'm like I know some of our apprentices and some of our youth have probably touched some of the products on this airplane And I'm glad we landed safely. So it's everything is going good, right? There was your ROI That is the ROI But we really did base it we we wanted there to be Opportunities for students to be able to make a better educated Or or a more informed decision as to what they wanted to do in life, right? So my spouse's Nana said what you don't know will make a brand new world and a lot of times Kids or youth don't know the opportunity to the opportunities that are out there until they experience it, right? and so We took our the way that we designed it All with employer support based upon employer demand In picking the occupation number one and based upon employer demand. We're adding another Occupation but so in addition to the experience that they receive the actual hands-on experience making products in industry And they are receiving college credit. So they're being prepped for college if that's what they choose. They're being prepped for More advanced entry into our adult apprenticeships You know and so we we structured that around to be able to give them that experience to be able to to make that choice But the pinch point is coming from the employers always and that they need Access to be able to train and grow their own workforce And so that was that was part of the pinch point and how we developed and designed the program And what do you know about the outcomes, you know So similar to what you just said with regards to the 78 to 80 percent graduation rates the 90 percent retention What are the types of outcomes that you've been seeing in this program? so everything that Chris said applies to our adults and So this is where I'm transparent with you guys, right? So we started very small. We started with 19 youth apprentices in a very diverse school district And so I'm going to talk percentages because they sound better than the actual numbers. Okay, so 30% went on to adult apprenticeship. So these young People are able to move out of their parents house. They're able to buy a car They're able to do all of these great things, but they they know what they want to do They they had the experience. They said hey, this is what I want to do and so and in our adult apprenticeship you also have access to Earn a two-year degree to at 50% reduced tuition in the state of Washington You know, so there is another way. It's still a career in an educational pathway So 30% of our apprentices went that route 20% went on to be to four-year institutions Where they're in engineering programs and what they've said like Marquell a little bit earlier is that? Being on the production floor and being able to understand how to make the product With materials and everything they feel it's going to make them a better engineer whether it's aerospace engineer or structural engineer We have another 20% that didn't go into apprenticeship and didn't go into college, but they remained with their employer They like what they're doing. They're not quite ready for adult apprenticeship and they're maybe not quite ready for college They're not sure what they're doing, but they have a full-time job making really good wages And then another 30% they're finishing out their program But what was very interesting to us is for the students that did not persist and for us That was very disappointing eight out of the ten students that did not persist were students of color and the problem was transportation Problem was homelessness problem was child care You know and we were not aware we just didn't see the students anymore and we had to go find them to find out You know what why why cannot what you know? Why are you not still a part of the program and so when they told us these barriers? We were like we have to get with our web boards or other agencies to be able to see if there are some kind of wraparound support services that we can come to the table with to the with the school districts to say hey these are these are services available to you because Those are really the kids that probably would benefit the best from from this opportunity, and so how do we make it more accessible? You know so 44% of the students that did not persist also Decided that hey, I tried it and this is not what I want to do Which is a good thing to know at 16 or 17 right instead of going your whole life in 30 40 and then figure out Hey, I don't want to do this right so at least they had the opportunity to try it and they went a different route You know and then the 45% they experienced barriers and then the other 11% they just weren't job ready. They were like yeah, this is too much for me You know so I'm just not ready for it So those are kind of the outcomes that we have so while we we had a disappointment with the Number of students that didn't persist in the first cohort We do have an opportunity right now. We have 39% diversity in our program now We're in our second cohort and we're going we're going to be recruiting for our third cohort this coming January So these are things that we've learned You know in hindsight of what we what what we need to bring to the table besides just the teaching and you know The curriculum and everything how can we oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry How can we remove the barriers to be able to really say that we're providing opportunity and access for all the students? So I'm going to have more questions for you, but let's just first turn to the next Yeah, so the pain point is acute for anybody in this room I don't know if you know our brands Angie's list home advisor. We're a large publicly traded company Billion-dollar company right now. I have a hundred jobs open. I can't fill these are high quality high-paying jobs And it's a real issue for us and it's an issue for everyone in the tech space And there have to be alternative ways to solve that I would say if you were a homeowner you should be even You should be worried because there's not enough plumbers and electricians out there And it's a really really big problem and it goes to what some of the people were saying earlier that we told everyone They had to go to a four-year get a four-year degree. Well, I've got seventy eighty thousand dollar your plumbing jobs electrical jobs More homeowners requesting those needs that I have plumbers and electricians do it So I represent both ends of the spectrum and I would say the problem is acute and getting worse and that is from the tech perspective and that is from the plumbers Electricians good jobs that don't require to say for your degree. So We have not I wouldn't say we have solved it What I've been lucky to do is to participate with Noel and career-wise and and start to figure out how in Colorado Do we bring in apprentices that will spend two to three years with us? They will then have the opportunity to demonstrate. They work well with a team. They can learn On the job they can participate.  And so that to me is Solving an acute problem for us. We're thinking about every way we can solve it, but it lets me Take kids who can demonstrate that they can work well with others They get real skills and if they stay great and they don't that's okay, too Because they may come back to us and I'm getting good work from these kids for the two or three year period So, you know for us we have to do anything and everything we can and this is one Way to fill the pipeline, but I think from what we've seen the maturity of the kids They're the quality of their work. This is going to be a great way and something We're going to lean into in the future because I think it fills a real gap in the in the space So Invented in what the three of you have been describing are a couple of things that I just want to parse out So first there is something around how can we take an alternative profile and be able to Get that person to the point of mastery to be able to go into these positions and to have a set of opportunities That they otherwise would not necessarily have had so that's one piece of this There is something else which is there is an ROI that each of you Three-year-olds is seeking to maximize And in some cases it it can be as it simply as like it's scarcity I need to fill these number of vacancies and so it's the cost of Filling the vacancy which in time frankly There is something else about retention I'm sure that there is also another part of this which is around productivity and quality outcomes I Suspect though that as we have these conversations Inevitably it comes to well why aren't there more employers doing this right? You know so if there is this ROI and The three of you are wonderful examples, but you are not alone to be experiencing these pain points So what in your minds is actually getting in the way of more employers coming to the table and making the same types of Efforts that you're making Talk to it because I was a skeptic I Didn't think that this could possibly work. I went with a contingency from Colorado No, Governor Hickenlooper said you should come check this out because I was sitting there saying there has to be a better way You see the Swiss system work and you're suddenly blown away You're seeing my peers sitting there telling me these kids come in they work hard. They participate It's not an altruistic exercise the ROI was as good You'd be foolish not to do it it changed my entire perspective about how I thought about it I looked at it and said well would be foolish not to do this in Colorado We've done it in Colorado and we're seeing the exact same type of outcome. I think too often people You know on the employment side underestimate what kids can do. I think they're blown away when they see You know, I know we had one of our apprentices in the HR group was being fought over because he was doing such a great Job and a people wanted him to come and participate. We treat them like adults. They act like adults. They do good work And and let's face it There's no difference taking a kid who's in 10th 11th grade and training them if they've got good underlying snap factor They can get it. It's no different the 22 23 24 year olds So I have to train as well that are coming in with a college degree But they have much higher expectations both in terms of what their real skills are and what they should be paid for that So, you know, I think what changed it for me was to see it to hear from my peers and frankly when you when you See the kids and hear from you're like, well, this is crazy We've been treating them as if they can't do some of the most basic things when they actually shine And I think what we saw in Switzerland is what I'm seeing in our Company and I think that's what changes the view of a CEO or someone on the corporate side is to see it Not be told about it. It's not some government program that you should participate in. It's really working. I'm paying You know the kid fairly and I'm getting back real work And then I have a good chance of them sticking with me and being trained and being more valuable to me So I think, you know, that was the big change for me And that's why I did it And I think the more exposure you give to business in that environment hearing from their peers seeing the kids and seeing That it really works at a sort of fundamental level not an altruistic level I think that that will change how people participate and you'll see more and more people getting into it So I would agree with Chris that a big part of it is hearing from other employers You know for me, I've worked for a couple of multi-nationals So I've seen apprenticeship abroad and seen how well it works. So I was somewhat of a believer Before we started For us, I think the big factors are hearing from other employers seeing that it works I think For for our county for our consortium a big factor was the fact that the tuition was waived by the state So I think that helped because it mitigated risk, right? Especially for those just starting in the program And the other thing I think that's important is I think some companies have a misconception that apprenticeship equals union And it's just not the case And I would add to that ditto Chris ditto Chris It's the Chris times kill So I would really echo that it is word of mouth amongst employers, right? So we we work with 260 employers across the state of Washington Some of them are unions some of them most of them are not right But we started our program with 11 brave Employers who said that they were going to you know take a chance and try this this program The second year we had 36 more and it was because employers and talk talk to employers You know some employers are a lot better with implementing programs Some just don't have training programs So it's not only us as intermediaries going out and talking to the employers But it is employers talking to employers and one of the other things that we did do as an intermediary One of the fears from a lot of our employers Especially in aerospace and advanced manufacturing and having 16 and 17 year olds They're working on actual machines and equipment was that they didn't want our labor and industries in their business literally Physically or in their business right all the time with with youth on the on there as a part of their workforce So we actually did a lot of work on the front end with our labor and industries to get an understanding to say how can we Have this process streamlined If they are a youth apprentice that is a different structure. So there's like a student waiver So the students were actually able to have hands-on experience on a lot more machines Than a regular 16 and 17 year old coming in because of the structure and the safety and the quality around Apprenticeship programs So we helped to mitigate some of those things to be able to make it easier for employers to walk through that process to be able To have 16 and 17 year olds in their space and an also word of mouth from other employers So there's a steady stream of its employers talking to employers and it's also just information sharing And show me don't don't tell me what you can do show me show me that it works Show me the data show me that you've got happy kids happy parents happy employers Show me that you're you're getting back something in return for paying the kids and it all works And if you can demonstrate it it takes a lot of the myth It takes a lot of the skepticism away, and I think that was what's so powerful for me going to Switzerland I think when others come to you know, so I made the pilgrimage Made the pilgrimage, but I think when people come to Colorado and see it Don't don't trust what we say listen to the kids talk to the employers Yeah, it's working that that's the real proof point absolutely So I'm going to turn to the audience in just a moment. So get your questions ready But prior to that let's talk a little bit about the challenges which you faced in this journey And the two of you had alluded to it a little bit in terms of Transport childcare, which is a steady stream across many programs If you were to think through What is the challenge that is the greatest rate limiting step, you know So for example Instead of having like 19 in a cohort, right, you know that you would be able to do Triple that or quadruple that what what types of challenges would you have to overcome to make that true? So for for us, I think and it was alluded to in the earlier panel It's the capacity at the community college Because at some point success is going to be our downfall If we don't get that capital investment to have adequate Resources at the community college. So I think I think that's That's a risk that's coming Beyond that. I think it's it's really Helping people to understand that these are really good paying jobs really good paying careers And and that it's real there's a lot of skepticism around It seems too good to be true I think for us since apprenticeship starts with a job We have to have the employers there at the table, right? And so this past year. We actually had a cohort of 56 But 75 students signed up and they wanted to participate in the program But we did not have enough employers So there's a capacity on the end of being able to provide them with on the job experience So that's one of the challenges one of the challenge one of the other challenges with being able to expand this out is really looking at our our K through 12 system because a lot of even though they earn high school credit and they earn a college credit the high school credits are elective and so there's there's a there's a If you're on track to graduate then you could probably have the time to be able to take this because they're elective credits But if you're a little bit behind on your credits, then you might not have this opportunity So we're actually working with our K through 12 system to be able to have these classes count as core part of the core 24 there so that and I think that that would open it up to more students and One of the other things instead of catching students when they're really far behind In their credits, we are starting what we call in working with open doors So these are these are students who are severely credit deficient and want to graduate But this is also an opportunity to be able to provide this program Here and so but we want to catch them before we actually they actually get so far behind So and you know in the state of Washington We've made the we've made the trips to Switzerland and Colorado, Wisconsin has some really good models South Carolina We've ripped up some stuff off from you guys But it's it's it's flattery because you know you guys did such a good job, right? But we give you guys credit So there's so many different models and so you know in the state of Washington governor Inslee has really been an advocate Of youth apprenticeship. It is a part of his career connected learning So being able to give high school students really experience Awareness about the the occupations that are out there So there's some really great leadership in the state of Washington from the governor's office down and he is able and his Staff is able to pull in all of the different agencies the community and technical colleges the high schools Working with employers and working with different agencies to to be able to figure out how we're gonna figure this out And how we're gonna scale this and how we're gonna make this more available not just in aerospace and advanced manufacturing But in other industries and as a result of this excitement around youth apprenticeship We just saw automotive industry submit standards and and have a youth apprenticeship Marine industry is looking at it. We have para educators. So there's a lot of excitement and this is this is This is becoming a big thing You know, but it's always we have some things that we have to to to kink out and then since John Altman from the governor's office is in here standing in the back. It's always gonna be a funding thing John He's not really He's not surprised by that every time I see him So but but they really have been really good about funding and doing pilots and helping us to try to figure this out From us. I'm lucky. I look I will do my part of the business. I'll fund it I'll pay for a lot of it. I actually think it's better for the businesses to fund it I think it makes it a much more viable program At least the program we're participating in what I need is a partner like career wise That takes the heavy lifting that otherwise I have to do off of me So I can provide HR support. I can get commitment from mentors I can put the money in but if I don't have the tools I don't have someone figuring out and giving me the platform basically Platform in terms of go do x y and z here's how you need to participate, but also the platform to interact You know and and to let the kids interact and everything else then it then it's too hard for me to do my part So I'm lucky career wise is that sort of You know relief valve or or make it easy for me as a as a running a business to do my part And so I think that's the more businesses will need that if it's going to succeed and frankly if it's going to scale I think all of you are alluding to the fact that this is an ecosystem at the end of the day And what we're trying to do is to change the way that ecosystem is interacting Let me just now turn to you and let's take questions. So let's do them in rounds of three. So one two three I'm morning. My name is Teddy Ivanitsky and I'm working for ISEE which is American Association for the engineering education You mentioned few times Switzerland. So I assume we are talking about the Swiss German model and What is Your experience or your opinion about this model in your industry What is the advantage disadvantage and especially to acquire changes within educational system? How do you see it? So that's number one number two How long takes the average apprenticeship? for young and for middle-aged and for those over 45 Okay, so two questions embedded there So both in terms of the duration of the apprenticeship programs which you offer and also what it takes to actually change the culture organization to accept apprenticeships There was one in right there. Yes Hi, my name is Tracy Dove. I'm with the Embassy of Switzerland here in Washington, DC So thank you very much for the plugs up front I just want to let you know that there are studies in Switzerland that have shown that there is a return on investment That there is a dollar and cents return on investment for that So having said that there's a couple of things to look at. It's not just technology apprenticeships in Switzerland By far 75% of all apprenticeships are something called the business model And it's basically like a four-year degree a four-year business degree light where the young people go and get a job But to stop Walmart or other large companies they For example in Switzerland they'll go and work three months in the accounting department three months in the mail room Three months on the sales floor and at the end after three years They have an apprenticeship has anybody ever considered looking at these great big big monolithic companies that might be easier To start an apprenticeship with Technology is great, but by far there is a need for these type of people who are trained in-house And the second question is the Society of Human Resources Management. Has anybody looked to talk? HR professionals about getting more excited about the apprenticeship model Thank you, and then there was a third question right up there Hello, my name is David Goldstein and my question is are you from Switzerland or related to Switzerland? I've been to Switzerland My question is I have read a business case the Commerce Department put out one in 2015 where businesses Described that there was a positive business case for funding apprenticeships even though they were pretty expensive My question is do you foresee among your peers? They're ever being a situation where an investment in an apprenticeship program is considered They regret part of the part of your your objective part of your Your obligation to shareholders to to create a An apprenticeship that actually works. Is that something that that you see in the future or is that too distant? Great. Thank you. So what we'll do is If each of you just address whichever subset of the questions resonated and then we'll do another lightning round of questions Also, when we work backwards, I'll start with your Look as a CEO of a publicly traded company My responsibility to shareholders is to grow the company and make sure you know We've got a good long-term plan for that growth and as part of that is how do you fill jobs right now? I've got too many jobs that are open. I don't think anyone out there who's investing in Angie home services is sitting around saying You know should it be this way or that way? They're just saying Chris go make sure that you can grow because you have the right bodies and they're talented and they're trained So to me, it's a no-brainer to sit there and say why why wouldn't I pay for an apprentice who I'm getting value in? Period and maybe they stay maybe they don't but there's a good chance that some will stay and those who leave will come back That's just as smart. It's just it's just good economics. It just makes sense And I think to the vicar question around the Swiss model to some degree when I saw the Swiss model and like look What happened with career-wise in the internet space you rip stuff off? I think you somebody said rip so you rip stuff off all the time because it's a good idea You don't reinvent the wheel Amazon steals from Google Google steals from Amazon We all watch what everyone else is doing and you do something that's working and you say well that seems pretty good They've been doing for 20 years. It's working go go emulate it. That's what we've done and we're seeing the exact same results That I thought we would see when we went to visit Switzerland. So I think there's something to be said for Back to your pain points. There's a huge pain point There's a system that has proven it may not be perfect, but it's pretty dang good And it's got data comprehensive data behind it that shows it works for businesses. It works for the kids It works for the educators in my mind. We can't wait too long We have to go get systems like that copy them implement them and scale them as quickly as we can So my my knowledge of the Swiss model and I may get some of this wrong They really look at it as Truly a workforce Ecosystem to take what you said They're looking at it from, you know, almost middle school on up through Post-secondary so so they're they're really doing a lot of testing. They're doing a lot in the schools to Prepare the use for for careers whether that's university whether that's a skilled trade Whatever that is. So there's they're starting young, but it's with an end in mind. So it's it's a market driven credential And and it's you know, it's it's looking at the whole ecosystem and and I think that's powerful I'll speak to the length of the apprenticeship program I think it's it's different all over the place. We have apprenticeships from one year all the way up to five years So and then when you get into the trades, it's a little bit different But when we're talking about youth, I know for us ours is 2,000 hours So it has to fit within the structure of the registered apprenticeship system Which means that they have to get at least 144 hours and at least 2,000 hours for it to be considered Registered apprenticeship. So that's the framework we happen to work within I know other states have different frameworks that they work within so it generally takes our high schools Students two years to get through because they're working part-time during the school year full-time during the summer So we try to catch them on their summer coming into their Junior year in order for them to be able to complete when they get there when they get their diploma. So Thank you. So let's do another round and if you could just articulate your question in 20 seconds or less That would be great. There's one two Do I have a third? Okay, so let's do the two Hi, I'm Indy Hepburn. I'm with the nonprofit at Wisconsin. We've been running a youth apprenticeship for about 18 years We have 200 students What we found when working with employers is the ROI goes beyond just the higher It also has a tremendous impact on the culture and building the next generation of leaders I thought maybe you could comment on that Good morning. My name is Dr. Model Alexander and Hi Tracy. I actually didn't spend six years in Switzerland studying their Apprenticeship system for the US. I have a study that was released by the Swiss government just last week My question is when it comes to the Swiss model It's the the company is a bottom-up perspective is not a top-down and it's the companies that actually Facilitate it with the states as opposed to the federal government. I'm alarmed when I see registered apprenticeships here because Government has two roles and that's funding and regulation But it's it's the states and each individual states in Switzerland You have the cantons and Tracy can attune to that also But it's that's where it comes because every state is different and they know the needs of their state and the needs of their region And their localities so when it comes to chambers and associations I don't find here in the US that they're doing as much as they should be so how then do you cooperate with those chambers? I know South Carolina have their chamber here, but I think that's where there's a deficit With regards to the companies coming on board and understanding it. So great. Thank you. So which of you would like to respond to these questions I'll take the second one So in North Carolina, it's actually been refreshing the amount of resources that they've invested into apprenticeship You know again starting with the tuition waiver so that the employers don't have to cover that expense But in addition to that, I mean it's been a priority for the school systems It's been a priority for the community college system But also in addition to to those things they've recently for our region Provided a 3.2 million dollar Grant to to grow apprenticeship now half of that is geared towards youth and the other half is geared towards adults At least in North Carolina, they're they're putting the resources into it. So that's refreshing I will just say something generally. I think from the last panel Sorry, I forget your name woman who said that ask the question is what if the system's not right? And I think everybody has to ask that question businesses have to ask that question What can I do? What if there's a better way for me to get qualified employees? I think educators have to ask what if there's a better way to let education sort of work hand-in-hand with You know training and Absolute and actually experiencing work firsthand I think the state has to think about what's the role and is it a role of a heavy-handed role or a light-handed role Is it a facilitating role? And I think we all have to rethink because the one thing and I this is the good thing I've seen from my experience. This isn't a political topic. I've seen everyone on the left the right in the middle say We've got to figure this out. And so I think for everyone in this group. It really is Thinking about it differently and then the real challenge. I believe is that everybody has to sort of Understand what could work sort of take their Skepticism set it aside look at the data look at what's actually happening Talk to the kids talk to educators who are participating at talk to companies and then that needs to be shared because we have such a Preconceived notion about what an apprentice means and is it for what type of kid or what socio-economic background et cetera? I think Switzerland showed it's for the top. It's the bottom. It's the middle. I think from the employer perspective You know realizing these kids can come in and be highly productive Blows everybody away. And so I think we have to all rethink Everything be open to it and start to you know really push from an experimentation and an actual implementation perspective because I think the biggest challenge going forward is You know people misunderstanding what it is misunderstanding the nomenclature misunderstanding ROI misunderstanding everything and if we can get a clear and and fact-based Message out there. I think you'll get more adoption and more people will want to participate because it just it just works And it makes too much sense And then I would just follow up. I think Chris had alluded to earlier how they had Folks in his organization fighting over an apprentice because the the apprentice was so good We hear that kind of stuff all the time from employers And the other thing that we hear is that with the young people coming in they kind of excite The current workforce right they I had a one employer that said that you know It was great having he picked up three youth apprentices or employed three youth apprentices And he was saying it's just lit up our workforce. He's like these old grumpy guys come in and now They see these you know these young people These young men and women and you know then the young men and women are in there and they're asking questions You know and they're they're you know, why do we do this? Can we do it a different way and stuff? And so they're they're engaging with them and and they're being innovative and stuff too But you know, they do bring a level of excitement back into a workforce too. So So if I just try to summarize about the conversation over the last 45 minutes And so one very clearly you all have experienced significant pain points Which therefore means that there is an ROI from participating What it takes to get more employers to the table doing what you're doing part of it is information and awareness Across employers and hearing the message from employers But there's also an ability to work with an ecosystem in your communities because employers alone are not going to be able to get this And lastly also, I mean it you're you're working across very different professions Right, and so I think that there is there's a subtext here Which is that those two things are true across a wide spectrum and it's not just technology Which is often how people typically think of apprenticeships. Let me just conclude then by thinking all three of you It's been a lot already this morning there's more to come but we are gonna now take a short break. There's coffee. There is water Very short break and then we're gonna come on back, but thank you Oh, if everyone wants to grab their seat, we're gonna get started in the second portion of our program Whenever everyone can return to their seat, that would be great Okay, I told you it was a short break and to help us transition into that We want to play something for you before this next session Governor Inslee who has mentioned his leadership on these issues in Washington We have a very fascinating video. It talks about the Ajax program in the state of Washington And the it really interesting work they're doing out there. So let's hear from Governor Inslee now We want to give our young people additional avenues for career success And we know there's huge avenues that we have not Exploited and maximized to career success involving apprenticeships and a career-connected learning We want to make sure that we we give kids that Have a different kind of learning. This is a different kind of learning and as a parent of a Couple kids that had a different kind of learning. That's a great thing to maximize people's Possibility and we're doing it. We're having some that are just going right back to the stand of the company that they Started with we're having some that you know go to a different company, but in the same field We have some that have discovered that what their original idea didn't really fit with their real Personality was and decide to go to a whole different direction. That's a learning experience too But we're an aerospace company cadence aerospace and the sky's the limit But not just an aerospace but in multiple industries and I really do believe that we'd have we've had a hundred ninety five percent growth Just over the last year and we can we think we can scale this up so that it's a major part of the one of the legs of the stool of kids opportunities of Four-year programs community colleges in this career-connected learning apprenticeship So college is great community college is great, but apprenticeship career-connected learning is just as good just as productive Just as rewarding so we got a lot of talent out there. We want to make sure that we fulfill a Mission for them and our industry which is going to be just crying for talent. So I'm excited our state's Taking one of the leading positions on that so I'm proud of what we're doing And and to highlight that the the state of Washington is one of the states It's doing a lot of work on this issue, but it's one of many And it's one that where they've looked around the country. They've seen what's happened in other places They're learning from it They're leading an exciting initiative called career connect Washington to expand it and youth apprenticeship is a big part of that And we're some people have traveled far to be here with us to come here from everybody today So appreciate the opportunity to to share the work. They're doing there, but it's exciting because across these states It's putting the work of students at the center and you've heard about youth apprentices a lot So I'm going to not talk much more and say this is really the highlight of the program We're gonna hear about these programs and how they change young people's lives To lead us through that conversation is the director of our pre K-12 program here at New America Our education policy program Elena Silva might introduce her to come up. She's been a fearless collaborator in this work of youth apprenticeship She's the working with me to co-lead this initiative and it's just it's really exciting to have All of the expertise she's brought to this from the world of her work and education to this initiative So without further ado bring up Elena and an exciting panel So, thank you, Brent. Thank you everybody for being here in particular I want to thank the four people that are next to me and some of the folks that came with them to travel To be with us today. I do have the best role in this whole day Because I do get to sit here and talk to the stars It without them this wouldn't exist This is for you all. This is about you all your perspectives your experiences your opinions about this are what really matter and you know we talked beforehand, so We want your real stories, right? That's what we talked about. So Before we begin I would just want to I Guess set the stage for this conversation By we heard a little bit. We heard a lot about the Charleston program. We'll hear more about other programs We've heard from employers. This is our opportunity to hear from the young people that are actually doing it One thing that's important about this And this is the youth when Brent earlier was talking about the different words in the partnership to advance youth apprenticeship The youth part is different from other apprenticeships, right? I mean this is this is a different population We're talking about and one thing that's unique about this is when we talk about the high school And I've spent a lot of my career studying and trying to understand the high school what works in the high school What doesn't work in the high school? I'm married to a high school teacher. I now have a high school student at home There's a lot of high school happening in my world So I care a lot about it, and I think a lot about it and one thing that I know from that is that as an institution A four-year institution that is arbitrarily so right we've just created that there's no actual reason why we have those four years The way we do Nor is there a reason that we cut it off that we have sort of boxed it into those four years where you're supposed to finish Be done and then move on to your future that connection between your future and that box is what we're trying to break open and Link in this conversation There is no reason why when you talk about youth development and adolescent development that you would have that box That it would be so insular the high school other than the fact that we want to protect young people and That is important because it goes back to that youth piece because they are still youth And what we know about adolescence is that up into when I say adolescence and I say youth I'm talking about high school students, but all the way up into your early 20s.  You want to belong you want a sense that what you're learning is relevant But at the same time you also need equal parts support That's a very real thing and that is what makes youth apprenticeship a little bit different here because we are talking about a program That needs to provide both the independence autonomy that adolescents want and crave and need and also the support that they very very much need to Be successful So with that I'm sitting with four people who have experienced these programs both Colorado and in South Carolina And I want to I want you to hear their stories and I want you to hear about their experiences So I'm going to dive first I'm going to introduce them so you know who they are and I'm going to actually ask them to introduce themselves in a minute and tell us all What grade are you in in school or where are you in school? And where are you working and what is your position and what does that position mean? So we talked about this earlier and you all have some interesting position titles that I didn't know what they meant So it would be helpful if when you when you tell people what your title is tell them what you do what you actually do But but most importantly, let me first introduce Haley Whitcraft right here And we have Judah Bolts Webber here and we have Shania Everson and we have Valerie Guyakas Garcia I'm going to start I'm going to ask Haley could you tell us not just your name tell us where you go to school and what your job is and What you're doing as an apprentice So as you know, my name is Haley. I graduated high school this year actually So I work at Cummings turbo technologies and I'm a maintenance TPM worker Which is when the machine breaks or there's downtime. We have to go and fix it. So they're though They're still running so they don't lose precious money that they need So we go and we try to fix it before it breaks But if it sometimes it doesn't work that way, so we have to do it try to do it fast enough that the Assembly line or the machining line gets back on in working order in good time So they don't lose too much money and we actually get the production out in relatively good time How long have you been working there? That's it's my second year almost, yeah Should be about finished with my second year there soon I'm gonna roll through once we get through and I'm gonna come back and ask you and then everybody How you found out about the apprenticeship at first? Let's hear Judah. How did you what where are you right now? Tell us where you are who you are and what you're doing So I'm Jude Voltsweber. I am a software quality assurance automation engineering apprentice at home advisor Which means I write automated tests that go in and test every aspect of home advisor software whether it's back end or front end Those run every release. They run basically nightly and I just write and maintain those scripts and I am a senior in high school and I've been at home advisor for about a year in change Thank You Shania My name is Shania Everson. I'm currently a senior at Burke High School and I Am cross-trained as a PCT slash secretary at Roper Hospital located downtown Charleston part of my job is to Take care of ill or injured patients under the supervision of nurses and doctors and licensed practitioners. I Also help with daily living activities Hygiene vital signs, you name it. I'm there Valerie I am a junior in high school. I go to a Westminster high school in Denver, Colorado. I Am a bookkeeping accountant at geotech environmental equipment and I Do a lot as an accountant. I am actually working right now In accounts payable side working in finances and I do a little bit of payroll Okay, so we're gonna let's win a flashback for me I'm gonna stay with you for a second Valerie because when we talked you had you told me the story of How you found out about the apprenticeship and this is important. I think we've heard a lot about the Events or the fairs the job fairs places where students might hear about this So you might think that students are hearing about this from their counselors in high school And they probably should you might think that they hear it from their community in different ways That's likely to But what seems to come up a lot not just with these four young people, but with other youth apprentices is there are there is a Something about going to a place and see and seeing all of the energy of employers all around these job fairs And these events are what are drawing a lot of people in So Valerie could you describe how you heard how you found out about the apprenticeship? What you were doing and what why you went there in the first place and what what grade were you when you did that? Okay, so I was a freshman still in high school There was a job fair that was intended for juniors and seniors to You know look for jobs after high school And I was actually looking like just for like a small job because I knew like a water park Company was gonna be there and they hire at 14 and I knew I couldn't work Because of my age and I know they were gonna be there. So I decided to go and I I Met up with them. I had my interview and then I was still like going around like just introducing myself to other businesses And I found Geo tech and you know, we really connected well and Sorry, yeah, we connected really well and we wanted to see if anything could work and see if I could like have a position there or just like a small internship there and so Geo tech contacted career-wise and We just got connected and we started talking and we I was able to get the Apprenticeship there they explained to me what the difference between an internship and an apprenticeship is just very different So yeah, that's how I got connected to career-wise and how I have my apprenticeship now Yeah And should I where were you working before you found out about the apprenticeship and how did you find out about it? Before I started my apprenticeship. I was working at Publix and I Really don't doubt working at a grocery store. It was like one of the best experiences that I've had next to this and I found out about the apprenticeship through my counselor Mrs. Clay and What we did was she knew I was interested in the healthcare field, but I just didn't know exactly what I wanted to do I switched from wanting to be a anesthesiologist and OBGYN and the list goes on but I ended up figuring out that I know I knew I wanted to be inside the the healthcare field so she gave me the application and I ended up taking the test and meeting the requirements and I got in the program And what what was who was involved in the process of of you choosing to do the program? Was it just you you just thought this is what I should do or were there others around you pushing you to do it? Your family your parents the school maybe your peers. Um, I definitely did have a support system But I knew that the choice that I was going to make was going to have to be something that I was going to be Satisfied with and I was gonna be happy with in a long run and not just to please somebody else. So No, I didn't do it alone. I did go through a process and Mrs. Clay really did help me with that Making sure that I stayed on top of my work as far as When things were due when I can take the test again and you know, she was she was a big part Before I go to you to Valerie was there someone that was in instrumental and you're making the decision or the choices that you made My family really supported my like process into my apprenticeship and my school didn't know too much about it It was actually introduced after I got into the apprenticeship to my school And I know actually geotech supported me so much on it. They kept pushing me to do it and One of my counselors at school who wasn't there anymore She actually Helped me along the process and explained to me how everything was gonna work and yeah How about you Jude, how did you find out about it walk us through your process? So my process was a bit interesting. There are some schools in in Denver Public Schools that are like geared toward career advancement and Things of that nature, but I went to East High School, which is a very traditional high school They don't really have programs like this very often So what I think had happened is that one counselor at East was told about the thing through like one email and then he went to one class which was a computer science class that I was in and Was basically just hey who wants to come learn about a thing So I went I learned about it. I was intrigued because it's great and Yeah, I just applied through there had help from counselors which once they Learned what I was what the whole program was they helped me like build out a resume that helped me prepare for interviews and All that kind of stuff So since the thing was sort of random as you described it what were your was your family or your friends? Where did they understand what it was were they supportive what no Nobody really knew what it was and actually I was talking about this earlier today. My mom was pretty Skeptical at first because it was a new thing. Nobody has ever done it before nobody knew what was going to go on and She was worried that I was going to be like stuck and I wasn't going to be able to get an education properly or Go out go throughout the rest of my life properly and then she talked to some people and was and learned about all the different aspects of the program and Then started supporting and was like full-on pushing me to Apply and do the whole thing All right, Haley walk us through your process. How did you find out about it? Okay, so One day I was just going to my voting class and he got an email Telling they had a presentation. It was mainly for sophomores But since there was only like two or three juniors in the class We all went there was probably about 20 people in the whole presentation just watching and they talked about the program and he said if you wanted to go to guidance and Find out the papers and just get them you can and then meet me back at the class and then from then I started Filling out the papers and sending them in it was kind of a rocky road though because nobody knew None of my guidance counselors knew what was going on didn't help me at all because they had no understanding of it and I mean my mom helped me a little bit She was kind of she just told me that if I wanted to do it go ahead But she didn't have any I'd clue what to do about it either So it's kind of just figuring it out as it went along But this yeah, that's pretty much it is nobody knew so it's Kind of had to just do it all by myself When you said the well it was your welding teacher that showed you yeah It was my wedding video or what no he got an email and we went to the auditorium And there was one person speaking and like there was 20 students in total so it was kind of small So I'm gonna actually I'll circle back to that in a minute, but One thing I want to touch on is something it's come up already It will come up again not just here today, but in the work going forward a lot of the barriers or obstacles Transportation logistics all that when we talk about youth apprenticeship You'll see that the first a and pi is that triangle we talk about these this triangle of The intermediary being in the middle of it, but they're being secondary school post-secondary education and the employer They're living that triangle and quite literally practically speaking you're traveling that triangle to do this program That means both in terms of transportation You're having to get yourself from home to high school to community to the college Where whatever it might be to your employer and in every which way And that's a lot and you're doing that on top of of everything else You might be doing as a young person and so I've talked to each of you I know that you are very involved with other things But I also know that that might be a constraint on what you can do both the time the transportation So if you could just think about for a second that you are the ones traveling this triangle that we're all so interested in building How is that for you? Like what is your day-to-day week like? How do you manage the transportation? How do you manage the transitions from being in high school learning to going to a college going over the employer? They're very different places Who wants to start? Shania Okay, a typical day for me would be I would wake up around 5 30 in the morning and my day wouldn't end Minus my study time until about 7 30ish at night I have to I am a part of the band at Burke and so I have band practice in the morning every morning 7 a.m. I have to be there and Straight from band practice I go to Trident At one point I was traveling to the main campus and Palmer campus all in one day and So after I go to class, then I leave class go to work and Typically I work about 12 hours a week on the school on during the school year. So It's a pretty busy schedule, but I've tried it by try to manage it all This is definitely taught me time management as well because I can't be in three places at one time so Thank you. How about would you Valerie? How do you balance it all? So typical day for me. Well, I my school is a little different. I know other school districts have certain days where Apprentices can have the entire day to go To their job and work, but my school districts different. I have to be at school every day. So I Typically go to school like from 8 7 a.m. To about 3 and on Wednesdays we get out early So I'm usually a geotech my job all day and I don't get out until about 6 30 ish and luckily, I am able to work weekends too. So I work Saturdays and Any time that I can fit it and since transportation is a little bit difficult for me I try to be at geotech as much as possible and see like the times I'm able to Specifically because School like is a big part of it. So I need to be able to like find time and manage my time Haley, I'll go to you next How do you balance it all? Well, um I'm not in high school anymore. So I get up about five o'clock in the morning Get ready to go to work and I'm Depends on the day But I'm usually there until I have to leave to go down to Trident and then I'm down at Trident to about 10 o'clock at night And then I come back and then I have to get up the next day and do it all over again So that's pretty much my week school I mean work and then school and work in school. That's that's pretty much all it is Is it harder or easier now that you're not in high school? Well, I get to take more classes. So I get to get through more classes faster than what I would if I was in high school I still get the same amount of hours because I make sure I get the hours that I need and more But yeah, I get more on Credits at Trident so I can get my associates faster. So I think it's about the same You just have to manage your time and I it's with a car. It helps a lot So yeah, a couple of you said that you need to have cars in order to make it from place to place And there's a bunch there's some stories in here If we have time to about how they manage that borrowing cars they get cars But they have to pay for gas and maintenance and all the negotiations that you might do with your young person to give them a car But Judah, why don't you tell us about about how you balance it? so I I guess got kind of lucky in that The way that I took my high school classes I don't have to take any classes at a high school currently I am very technically a student at East High School in Denver, but I don't take any classes at that campus I take all my classes on Monday and Wednesday at the University of Colorado Denver And those also count for high school credits. So therefore I am going to graduate And then Tuesday Thursday Friday. I'm at home advisor usually eight to four and Then I just after that go home. So I got it pretty lucky the way that I Not anywhere until like 10 at night Enough time for you to play the snare drums exactly. Yeah Let's stay for a second with you Judah because another thing I want to get into is that Part of apprenticeship in general but youth apprenticeship as well is the on-the-job learning I'm just this is this is the key to it. So you all are on a work site You're in a job where you need to be getting support and mentorship You're not just going to a job without that someone supposed to be there trying to show you and teach you So could you describe what that's like when you're at your work and your job? Is there a mentor? Is there somebody that you're working with that's providing a certain type of support or helping you learn in a particular way? Yeah, there there is a mentor When I started there was a mentor and I've had many mentors on my team and Everyone on the automation team at home advisor is very Engaging and they all are very supportive and helpful in Everything if I need to learn something there's always someone for me to go and ask Then you you ask how was it at first to learn? I think it's I think what's important is that for employers to work with young people oftentimes there are concerns It's what's it going to be like to work with a young person from the employer standpoint. I need to have a mentor What does that mean are these mentors and so I was even from the from the educator standpoint There would be concerned that employers are not prepared to work with young people that they're not really mentoring you They're not really teaching you that they're just treating you like an employee. I think which you are Yeah, I think the best thing that helped me when I was initially getting trained was the patients Everyone on my team was super patient because I didn't know anything I didn't I Was going into a coding job and I didn't know how to write in that language So it took me a while to learn how to Do what I needed to do but everyone was very patient and that really helped me not only learn but also Be more confident in myself and not be so as intimidated by all the stuff that I was overwhelmed with So how about you Haley just to get in your voice on this What if the mentors or the people at your job site taught you and in what ways that they taught you? So at my job, we don't really have one specific mentor I have one person that I fall around a lot But we go to anybody that we can get to help us if we need help They're pretty much all helpful But um, yeah, they're really good easy going about if we need help with something the first year It's kind of basic stuff. We did oil samples and just basic PMs and stuff like that But they've been putting us down in when something breaks and it's Time-specific and everything and we have to fix it and get it up running real quick But they're always standing there and if we need help and we all have to all we have to do is ask them And then they're usually really helpful about everything do they treat you differently because you you started in high school I know you're not anymore, but because you're younger Sometimes they do sometimes but they do expect us to be able to get up there and actually do the things that they're doing But they um, they do treat us a little bit different But that's because we started out so young and that they know that we don't we wouldn't know everything that they do How about you Valerie? What's your experience on the work site on the job? It's a little scary at times just because it's new and you don't know what you're doing because How everybody else said I know my I have a coach and a supervisor and they're both so great with me I appreciate them a lot because they're always supporting me in Whatever like school like they talk about school with me like how I'm doing The assignments and the tasks I have at work and But they're both very supportive Not just them but everyone around like everybody knows typically all of the Assignments and tasks I need to do so almost everyone I can ask anybody anything and they have an answer for me And they're all very patient. They um treat me the same And they're like very respectful It's a little challenging at times just because like I have so many questions and every two seconds I'm like, oh, what do you know how to do this? Like and then two seconds later. I'm just like I messed up Can you help me on this? so Yeah, but I I enjoy it a lot And I would like to add to that. Um my supervisor Amanda. She's very um As far as working with me with my schedule and um, she's very understanding And I also work with miss rosemary who mentors me throughout, you know working in the hospital And part so for the first half of my shift, I would you know watch Miss rosemary do certain things like perform certain But do certain things with the patients and you know, I'm not the one to sit back And always just watch watch watch. So I spoke to Amanda and I told her Um, I asked her if we could just start a system where maybe the first half I could Still help but just not be behind the scenes and then the second half I I would be more independent and do the work on my own and that's pretty much what I'm doing now That's interesting. It's probably a perfect example of how it should work And it sounds like that's happening and to a certain degree everywhere here where you are You're learning from it and then you're able to do it on your own. That's the design. That's the idea Before we open up for for questions I think everybody would want to know what your plans are for the future So we know we how you figured out how to be in the apprenticeship programs We know you're in it. Where do you see yourself or where do you want to get to? I know th