Trade preparation program launches at Aragon

“The program is about how we can support students who don’t necessarily fall into the path that many of our students at Aragon fall into, which is often wanting to go to the fanciest college ever,” Lane said. “There is another population of students who want to do something else.” 

The Multi-Craft Core Curriculum, which connects secondary schools with the building trades’ registered apprenticeship programs, gives students a leg up in understanding the craft, the opportunity to earn safety certificates and prepare for a successful apprenticeship. 

The program provides students with instruction in tools, construction math, financial literacy, the history of the labor movement and safe work practices. Students will also have the ability to earn an Occupational Safety and Health Administration authorized training card — which is often required to even step foot on a job site — and First Aid/CPR certification. Upon completion of the course, students also receive a certificate from Trades Futures, an organization looking to prepare students for a career in the trades. 

Aragon engineering teacher Arron Apperson, who has long taught courses that allow students to work with their hands, was the one to propose the new program to help students understand how to get into the trades. 

Not only does his shop allow for such hands-on education such as sawhorse projects, Apperson felt the shift away from trades programs from when he was in high school to the push for college, ultimately, “left students behind.” 

“I’ve had really good success with some of the students who may be failing their other classes and not understanding why math is important,” Apperson said. “In my class, we start to make that connection and they can start to see how the arithmetic and math and planning things out can apply.” 

Even before the program began this semester, Apperson has encouraged students to consider the viability of trades, which he said is a growing industry that is looking to attract a more diverse array of apprentices. 

“Trades are really focused on trying to employ more women, they’re trying to employ people that are formerly incarcerated, so kids that may be on probation at our school, they wouldn’t be barred from participating and, in fact, they’d be encouraged,” Apperson said. 

The MC3 course has attracted students from “every walk of life,” Lane said. 

“My class attracts a really bifurcated group of students,” Apperson said. ‘I’ve got students that want to go to MIT and want to be engineers and I’ve got students who really love working with their hands and maybe their father has taught them a little bit and I’ve got a shop and they want access to it.” 

The diversity in who is taking the course reflects both the school’s efforts toward making sure classrooms are filled with students from all backgrounds and the district’s goal of “making career preparation coequal to college preparation,” Brian Simmons, director of Curriculum and Assessment for the San Mateo Union High School District, said.

“Our school board is pushing us as an organization, who I think has been pretty keenly focused on A through G completion as kind of our prime directive, and moderating that,” Simmons said. “That is an ongoing shift for us.” 

Preparing students for a career in the trades is a fruitful endeavor, Apperson believes, and he is constantly reminding others of “all the things we take for granted that are hidden from view.” 

“When you walk into your house and you turn your light switch on, you’re really glad it didn’t burn down and you have one person to thank for that and that’s an electrician,” Apperson said. “You’re really glad that when you flush your toilet it doesn’t come back through your sink? Thank a plumber.” 

Apprenticeship programs are competitive, Apperson said, and he hopes to get students excited and aware of what the MC3 course offers. The local electricians trade program had more than 700 applicants to its apprenticeship program that could serve 40 people. The acceptance rate motivates Apperson to provide the best course possible. 

“They need electricians but they only have so many instructors and spots in their programs,” Apperson said. “We need to turn out really good apprentices to make sure that goes well. We’re trying to get them excited, get them oriented to how they are going to get accepted and then survive for the five years of the program because it’s hard.” 

The program is the first of its kind within the district, but other high schools are considering adopting a similar course to prepare their students for the career prospects, Lane said. Similar certificate and apprenticeship preparation courses are typically offered in a higher-education setting. 

“Instead of relying on it at the adult school or community college level, we’re bringing it back to the high school level and allowing a student to leave high school with the same certificate that students are getting at a college,” Lane said. 

The sustainable pay earned from a career in the trades, as well as working in a field that services the community are major reasons Apperson is such a proponent.

“We’ve got a good number of students who are going to have a lot of success and find happiness in their life and that’s really what I’m trying to do, finding that key to give them success and to be able to live in the Bay Area, and stay in their hometown and find a place that gives value to their community,” Apperson said.