business backgrounder | education & workforce
from internship to employment
The program began in 2011 as a partnership between Vancouver silicon wafer manufacturer SEH America and Evergreen Public Schools . The company , one of Clark County ’ s largest employers , wanted to increase its pool of machine operators and the 26,000-student school
“ We have this history of thinking of those jobs as bad jobs . They ’ re actually good jobs .”
— Scott Culbertson , math instructor , Hayes Freedom High School in the Camas School District
district wanted to make sure it was offering options for students not going to college , says Natalie Pacholl , Training Program Specialist at SEH America .
The need for skilled manufacturing employees has only grown since then . Clark County was home to 13,500 manufacturing jobs in 2016 , an increase of 2,000 from the recession ’ s low point in 2010 , according to the Washington Employment Security Department . And with the Clark County unemployment rate hovering at 5 percent , competition for workers is tight .
SEH remains one of the largest partners in the program , hosting about 40 interns per year . “ I try to find things that will be value-added and not too difficult to manage ,” Pacholl says . Those include using Google Tools and learning how to gather and organize data . The students earn a half-credit from their high school and three from Clark College , a two-year college that offers dozens of technical training programs .
SEH America has hired about one-third of the approximately 200 students who have gone through the internship program . Breanna Reeves , 21 , was an intern there as a student at the Evergreen district ’ s Heritage High School . She ’ s now a production operator at SEH .
“ They offered me the job two weeks before I graduated ,” Reeves said . “ I had the orientation at 6 a . m . the day of my graduation , and the graduation was at 8 p . m . that night .”
In her three years there , Reeves has earned four promotions . She earns enough to live on her own and has good benefits , including an opportunity for tuition funding if she decides to go to school .
“ SEH will constantly move you up ,” said Reeves , who ’ s disappointed that she ’ s one of just a few women machine operators . “ They will train you for every job you want .” Feller encourages school districts to try to achieve a balance of boys and girls that matches the school ’ s demographic and to make sure the program doesn ’ t fill up only with college-bound students . But college-bound interns also find their internships valuable for their future careers .
Owen Stuber , a graduating senior at Hayes Freedom High School in Camas , is headed to Washington State University in Pullman next fall . But he said his internship at WaferTech gives him a backup plan , particularly since WaferTech would help pay for his college in some fields if he agreed to work for the company after graduation .
In her internship at Columbia Machine , Lovato worked with other interns on improving efficiencies at the heavy manufacturing company . They created a “ spaghetti diagram ” of worker movements and came up with ways ideas for reorganizing a materials storage area to improve efficiency .
This summer she and the other former interns will work primarily on plant maintenance . But they ’ ll also look for ways to improve one small area of the production plant as a model work area using Lean principles , said Kris Langdon , Continuous Improvement Manager at Columbia Machine .
Before her internship , Lovato thought she would work in an office or as a barista , but her experience at Columbia Machine now has her considering manufacturing .
“ I had never thought about it for myself , but I ’ m definitely thinking about it now ,” she said .
40 association of washington business