Michael Martinez wants to be an airline pilot. But as he got older, Martinez, now 18, decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a professional welder instead.
In fact, the senior at Brazoswood High School in Clute, Texas, already has a job that will start shortly after graduation.
“My dad always wanted me to stand in the white-collar classroom,” he said, but “he was proud of me.”
Michael Martinez on Career Contracting Day, 2022.
Source: Harold Nicoll
In Texas, where Martinez lives, there are more and more industrial job openings, but fewer people fill them.
According to Chris Witte, senior vice president and facility leader for BASF, a chemical company in Freeport, Texas, part of the labor shortage is due to the fact that experienced workers have aged out of the field. this.
“We want to develop talent and we want to give opportunities to students,” says Witte. “The aim is to show them that these are very good, high-paying jobs.”
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To encourage more students interested in careers in this field, Martinez’s school district organizes a Career Signing Day every year.
“This Career Signing Date never came up,” says Martinez. “I think I might as well try it.”
More and more people are getting used to the fanfare surrounding the signing days, when high school graduates commit to attending a particular college.
For college graduates heading to big-name schools, these special occasions are celebrated among friends, family and the community at large.
Now, school districts are supporting and commending high school students who make the same commitment to a highly skilled profession.
Just as we would celebrate a football player or any other athlete, we also want to celebrate proudly as our craftsmen and women and decide to pursue a career. their.
Chelle Travis
executive director at SkillsUSA
“Just like we would celebrate a soccer player or any other athlete, we celebrate,” said Chelle Travis, executive director at SkillsUSA, a national nonprofit that aims to connect. I would like to proudly celebrate our skilled craftsmen and women and their decision to pursue their careers. students with engineering professions.
“What they do is necessary work.”
This spring, more than 1,000 students across 33 states participated in Job Fair.
In Brazoria County, just south of Houston, 48 graduates, including Martinez, signed up to work full-time at one of the chemical and petrochemical companies that make up the Brazoria County Petrochemical Board.
These seniors from Brazoria County, Texas high schools committed to full-time employment by Career Signing Day, 2022.
Photo: Billy Loveless, Brazosport College
This is Brazoria County’s fourth annual Career Signing Day and by far the most popular Career Signing Day. More than double the number of students applying for and being employed for full-time positions compared with last year.
“The response has been phenomenal,” said Aaron Ennis, a committee chair and resource development coordinator for the Brazosport Independent School District.
He added: “We are at the cusp of being one of the biggest signing days above and below the Bay Area. “That’s our goal.”
To be considered, students must submit a written application, including an essay, and interview with the hiring manager.
“We need to know that these candidates are very serious about their commitment because they can last a whole career,” says Ennis.
“It’s been a rigorous process because these jobs represent a significant investment of contract and BCPC member firms,” he added, which currently includes 25 employers, such as Chevron-Phillips. Chemical, Dow, Huntsman and Vencorex.
“I’m both excited and scared because there are four girls [applying] and I’m not sure if all, or any of us, will get a job offer,” said Adrianna Webster, senior at Angleton High.
Adrianna Webster on Career Contracting Day, 2022.
Source: Harold Nicoll
Webster, 18, was one of the students offered a job as a full-time welder at KCG Industries, earning $16 an hour.
“None of my family went to college,” she said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do; I thought welding seemed interesting and I was good at it.”
She started in July, after competing in a national welding competition (Webster was the Texas state welding champion).
Increasingly, teenagers are rethinking the value of going to college.
Against the backdrop of rising demand for workers, rising tuition costs, and a growing student loan burden, more and more students choose a career connection path according to recent reports.
As enrollment declines, skilled trade programs are booming.
According to ECMC Group, a nonprofit organization based in Minneapolis, four-year school attendance has dropped 20% over the past two years — from 71% to 51%. ECMC Group polled more than 5,300 high school students five times since February 2020.
Meanwhile, more than a third of high school students said they believe a career and technical education can lead them to success.
Jeremy Wheaton said: “Students today are already experiencing the impact of the pandemic and they want to forge their own path – one that takes less time, is more affordable and connects directly to the profession. careers – especially careers in the labor force,” says Jeremy Wheaton. Chairman and CEO of ECMC Corporation.
A separate study by YouthTruth, polling more than 22,000 students in the class of 2022, found that more than a quarter, or 28%, of high school students said their plans have changed since at the start of the pandemic with fewer interested students. go to college at all.
