A construction and manufacturing pre-apprenticeship was born, and it’s accredited through NCCER Core. Darana, an electrical and mechanical installations company that assembles large conveyor systems, offers the curriculum at an introductory level for the students and it offers additional training for its employees at higher levels.
“We have so much talent sitting inside that school, sitting inside this community, and it’s ready to go,” said Shinaberry. “They have inherent skills. They know more than what they know; they just need somebody to sit down with them ... and then to back it up with opportunity.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Darana isn’t the only partnership Hamilton High School has with area businesses with pre-apprenticeship, like with Kettering Health and AurGroup, said Assistant Principal Jesse Funston. The district wants to expand the opportunities for students, he said.
“For a long time, when a kid walked into the school and they had to fit the mold of the school, not only in Hamilton but with most of your public schools,” Funston said. “But over the past five years we’ve really worked to meet the needs of students. You still have your collegiate kids that are going to go on to post-secondary education and four-year universities, but you also have to have kids that are going to be career-ready and have opportunities walking out the door and that’s something we tried to increase our opportunity for.”
The state of Ohio has more than 150 pre-apprenticeship programs, which include more than 100 designed for youth ages 16 to 20 years old. High school students in pre-apprenticeships gain real-world experience while working part-time in their communities and fulfilling their graduation requirements, according to the state.
Apprenticeships are in-depth programs that require hundreds of hours of classroom work and thousands of hours of hands-on work. For example, an electrical apprenticeship requires nearly 600 hours of book time and more than 8,000 hours out in the field. The pre-apprenticeship program with Darana recognizes 90 hours of the core training, which Shinaberry said is the first half of the first year of an apprenticeship, making the students “light years ahead.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The program also helps with college credits. That pre-apprenticeship is equivalent to a half or a full credit hour, and helps them out when gaining microcredentials or full credentials, and with the Miami Hamilton Promise Scholarship, Hamilton High graduates can attend Miami University Hamilton for free.
But even if they’re not ready for college, or eligible for the Miami Hamilton Promise Scholarship, the pre-apprenticeship program shows there are pathways for success, Shinaberry said.
“We come in and show them what they’re capable of and teach them how to hone that in,” Shinaberry said. “Now I need employers to step up and say, ‘Hey, we’ll take them because they went through this program.’”
About the Author
