CCK helps Brashear and Perry students check out trade apprenticeships
A junior at Pittsburgh Brashear High School, Dashawn has thought for a while he’d take up carpentry when he graduates, but he didn’t know there was a local apprenticeship training center where he could learn the craft.
Before he visited the Carpenters Training Center run by the Keystone Mountain Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters, he said he thought he’d just try to find a job where he could learn. Now, he’s thinking about putting in an application for an apprenticeship.
Dashawn was among students from Pittsburgh Brashear and Perry Traditional Academy who explored both the Carpenters Training Center and the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Center run by International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 5 as part of the Consortium’s College & Career Knowledge (CCK) program.
As part of the visits in March, representatives of both trades filled students in on the application process and the requirements and benefits of their training programs. Key among the benefits is that apprenticeships in carpentry, electrical work and 15 other building trades programs that operate training centers in the region all enable students to earn paychecks while they’re learning.
Like lots of students attracted to the trades, Dashawn said “I’d like to work outdoors and do something with my hands.”
While carpentry still remains a top choice for realizing those goals, however, he said the CCK explorations helped him see additional options that he’ll probably explore as well.
