Youth Apprenticeship program with mared mechanical

Youth Apprenticeship with Mared MEchanical 

Wisconsin's Youth Apprenticeship program is part of a statewide School-to-Work initiative. It is designed for high school students who want hands on learning in an occupational area at a worksite along with classroom instruction.  

Kyle is currently a senior at Brown Deer High School. When he isn’t playing sports or woodworking, Kyle is learning on the job through his Youth Apprenticeship experience at Mared Mechanical.
 
“It has been interesting learning all the little tricks that people use to make themselves more efficient,” says Kyle as he talks about his experience this year. A typical work day for Kyle starts when he meets up with his mentor and they go over the schedule for the day. Kyle then shadows the mentor and starts to learn from the years of experience his mentor brings to the table.
 
“When I signed up for this program I was hoping to learn more about the trades and construction and this program has done just that.” What makes Kyle’s experience unique is that he worked with Brown Deer High School to create a schedule where he would be available for full days of work twice a week. That allowed Kyle to enjoy his baseball season last summer AND work on his youth apprenticeship.

“It’s important to remember that these folks are high school students and they still want to enjoy their high school experience. For some folks, athletics are a crucial part of that. It really goes to show how committed Mared was to be participating in the first year of the YA program that they worked out a mutually amicable schedule for the student, school, and their work schedule,” says Dajen Bohacek, Associate Director PMC/SMACCA.
 
Despite his athletic commitments this past summer, Kyle was able to attend the 40-hour paid job readiness training held at Local 601 prior to employment. “The training was not bad, and it taught me a lot about job site safety.” Overall, Kyle’s experience has been a positive one. He credits his experience at Mared with meeting a variety of new people and hearing about different ideas and perspectives.