Northwest Aerospace News December | January Issue No. 12 | Page 29

W
hile Boeing is the major
employer of the program’s graduates,
some end up going to work for com-
panies in the aerospace supply chain,
Vincent said.
“Suppliers are more willing to work
with new people and promote them
into management positions,” she said.
For many students, that’s appealing,
because having factory skills plus
management experience at an ear-
ly age can open doors all over the
industry.
Vincent said she encourages students
to plan for the long-term. If you go
into an aerospace career right after
high school, you can start saving for
retirement right away, and be able to
retire as young as 55, she said.
“It’s a wonderful program,” she said.
“I wish I’d had this kind of place when
I was a teenager.”
The Core Plus model has been
successful enough that educators are
working to expand it into other fields
— construction and maritime man-
ufacturing in particular. And they’re
working to add more schools to the
aerospace program, Garrettson said.
They’ve partnered with the Aerospace
Joint Apprenticeship Committee to
expand into more schools, Garrettson
said, and are even working on ways to
get middle schools involved.
“The growth trajectory is exciting,”
she said. “It’s definitely a growth
mindset. Everyone’s coming together
to help further build out this pipeline.”
The Washington Roundtable is work-
ing with educators to try to get more
schools involved — and to get the word
out to more teenagers about the possi-
bilities that can be theirs.
The message: “Use some of the time
you have in high school to explore
things that might interest you,” Gar-
rettson said. “Take these hands-on class-
es and open up multiple pathways.”
Sara Garrettson
Washington Roundtable
https://www.waroundtable.com
https://coreplusaerospace.org
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