In previous decades, there was a push for more and more teens to go to college to get into a career. Now, local school districts are now trying to expose kids to a greater variety of jobs before they graduate high school. College is still a major focus, but there’s also increased attention on trade jobs and apprenticeships, which are touted as a way to make money and learn at the same time.
“We don’t have a talent gap, we have an exposure gap,” said Shannon Cox, Montgomery County Educational Service Center superintendent. “And so that’s why it’s really important to make sure that we provide the students the opportunities to see themselves in this type of career.”
Bryan Stewart, workforce director for the MCESC, said camps like these are a good way for kids to learn what they like, but also what they don’t like. They were exposed to welding, bricklaying, electrician work and other skills.
He said the camp was a way to showcase these skilled jobs without building a new facility or training a new instructor.
“The union showed up, the public schools showed up, and all these different partners showed up to make it happen,” Stewart said. “And I think when you look at our region as a whole, it’s how do we take experiences like this and create more of them?”
While this is the first time the camp has happened in Dayton, similar camps have happened around the state previously. Brown’s office has been involved with creating the camps.
Brown said trade camps like this will help to fill a coming workforce need. The Intel project in Licking County, where a huge semiconductor plant is expected to be built, plus the Honda plant in Fayette County, are also anticipated to need a large number of skilled workers to complete the plants.
“These young men and women have an opportunity that people didn’t have before,” Brown said. “That is, there’s a lot of trades jobs that we need for infrastructure, we need for the Intel plant, we need for the Honda plant.”
Mike Knisley, executive secretary and treasurer for the Ohio State Building and Construction Trades Council, agreed, and said the camp could help those interested in college too.
“This camp explores the possibilities and opportunities out there,” Knisley said. “And the nice thing about the building trades is that they have continuing education units for college.”
Trinity Owens and Ashton Cole, incoming freshmen at Meadowdale High School and Dunbar High School, said they both came to the camp to try something new.
Cole said his mom pushed him to go to the camp. He liked flooring, roofing, plaster and welding work so far. Owens said she’d liked welding and torching.
“It’s a good experience,” Cole said.
Owens agreed, adding, “More people should try it.”
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