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Opinion | State’s future depends on career and technical education offerings like this
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When it comes to K-12 education, Michigan’s future depends on not only excellent schools, teachers, and educational accountability, but on multiple pathways to student success.
This includes a world-class assortment of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs, designed for students who are going directly from high school into specific industries like health care, culinary arts and the trades.
We have such a program in Bay City. It’s called the Tri-County Trades High School Lineman Program, and it’s part of State Street Academy, a K-12 charter public school in Bay City. I’m honored to serve as the founder and director of the program, which just completed its second school year.
In our program, high school juniors and seniors get the training, skills and certification they need to go directly into the workforce as a lineman when they graduate. The training our students receive at Tri-County Trades would cost them about $40,000 if they took it on the outside. As a public school academy, we offer it all for free.
Our program is a collaborative one, and it’s open to any high school student in the area. This year, we had students from seven different districts enrolled at Tri-County Trades, both traditional public school districts and charter public schools. We believe in working together to do what’s best for students.
We have our own dedicated training facility in Bay City, with real power lines and poles and the actual equipment our students will be using on the job. They climb poles and work on wires and learn to do every aspect of a lineman’s job, both on the ground and in the air. They’re outside in the dead of winter, too, just like the lineman in the field are. They learn safety most of all.
Caeleb Varney of Freeland was one of the seniors who graduated this year after his second year in the program. He attended Freeland High School every morning and Tri-County Trades High School every afternoon, and he graduated in May with both a high school diploma and certification to become a lineman.
He was able to go directly into the workforce, making more than $60,000 a year as a ground worker. Once he completes his apprenticeship and becomes a full-fledged lineman, he’ll be earning more than $100,000 a year.
All because of the free training he received through this charter school’s CTE program.
“It’s incredible,” Caeleb said. “I mean, there’s nothing like it anywhere else in the nearby area, especially for high schoolers. It gives us a giant head start and knowledge and experience, which is vital. You have a career immediately after you get out of high school.”
Our graduates are not only earning good money with a meaningful career — they’re also filling vital jobs in the workforce. With the changing economy and our electrical needs growing by the day, Michigan needs talented young line workers like Caeleb Varney now more than ever.
State Street Academy is proud to be part of Michigan’s community of charter schools, which have always been leaders in innovation and accountability. Whether a student’s pathway to success includes college or career readiness, we all need to work together to make the road better.
That means we need CTE programs like the Tri-County Trades High School throughout the state. As of now, there are only two lineman programs like this in the state – ours and another one in Boyne City. We need them everywhere. We also need programs for health care, building trades, and every other career path.
We know that improving education is a top priority for Michigan’s political leaders, and in all humility, if they’d like to see what a successful CTE program looks like, we’d invite them to visit the Tri-County Trades High School. We hosted State Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw, earlier this spring, and he came away impressed.
“This is critical to the growth of Michigan, and we need to encourage more and more kids to get involved in this kind of education,” he said.
True. As a state, it’s up to all of us to prepare our students for success, whatever pathway they choose. We’re proud to be playing a role in that.
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