Northwest Aerospace News April | May 2019 Issue No. 8 | Page 48
T
he older apprentices have
now started to mentor and
use their mentorship skills on
the younger new apprentices.
They’ve really brought some life
into our facility.”
Employers see the tribal knowl-
edge of their employees walk out
the door as retirements become
more frequent in manufactur-
ing. With this mass exodus, a
large gap develops between the
older and younger generation of
workers. “We’ve worked with
AJAC on their mentorship and
leadership training — so we are
training that older generation to
be mentors,” said Young. “For
us, it’s great because we have
new life. We’ve got people who
are excited to come to work
every day.”
AJAC’s employer relationship
fostered a new bond between
education and business. In 2019,
AJAC will have partnerships
with 16 school districts in seven
counties in Washington State,
including Whatcom, Snohomish,
King, Pierce, Yakima, Grant and
Spokane.
For many years, there was a
common complaint about the
curriculum in schools not meet-
ing the needs of industry. Youth
Apprenticeship has bridged this
gap by allowing schools to use
industry-recognized curriculum
to teach their apprentices skills
employers look for. “The Youth
Apprenticeship program inspires
the confidence and support from
industry because they know the
skills being taught relate directly
to those required in the work-
place,”
48
said Maija Thiel, career and technical education director for the Puyallup School District.
“Youth apprenticeships add more layers of opportunities to CTE courses, which attract
students who are looking for multiple post-secondary options, equivalent core academic
credits, college credits, and paid employment experience with advancement.”
In return, the quality of the education is improving — as well as the equipment and
tools needed to train the apprentices — through new funding streams developed to serve
programs such as Thiel’s Puyallup Youth Apprenticeship program. “It offers the expertise
from industry to ensure that the equipment and instruction in the trades-oriented pro-
grams are aligned to the current needs in industry. This impacts not only the quality of the
education and preparation of the apprentices, but also of all students who participate in
related courses.”
To keep business moving forward, many AJAC employers are reaching out to their local
communities to find talented, motivated individuals. There is a pride to having home-
grown employees in manufacturing, “The biggest reason Senior Aerospace AMT signed
up for the Youth Apprenticeship program is primarily for our community. AMT’s a very
community-minded company and we want to provide opportunities in our community
first,” said Washburn. “We know that if we concentrate our efforts here in our own com-
munity and with our local high schools, we will have a stronger base for our company and
our business. We’re drawing our own employment needs from our own community, so
that speaks highly to the city of Arlington.”
NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS