Representatives from Foothill College’s Apprenticeship Program hope that a recent presentation to the Palo Alto High School Junior class will bring more career options to students.
The presentation took place during a mandatory Advisory on Oct. 25. The apprenticeship pathway at Foothill allows students over the age of 18 with a high school diploma to work as apprentices in trade jobs, such as plumbers and technicians, while simultaneously taking college courses with no tuition.
Phuong Tran, the apprenticeship program coordinator at Foothill College and presenter at Paly, said she has been promoting the program to Bay Area high schools for around 10 years.
“This was the first time they [Paly] invited us to promote apprenticeship programs,” Tran said. “Apprenticeship has only really been known for the last five or six years, even though it has been around for ages.”
Despite the lack of awareness of apprenticeships, college counselor Sandra Cernobori said that in the past few years, more students have expressed interest in vocational programs, encouraging Paly to be more proactive to allow students to learn about alternate post-high school options.
“I feel like at this school, where there’s such a four-year college-going culture, a lot of the Advisory lessons lean more that way,” Cernobori said. “About 78% [of students] go directly to a four-year college and then another 12% to community college.”
Tran agrees that this emphasis on a four-year college is prevalent in more affluent areas like Palo Alto.
“People don’t promote apprenticeship programs and don’t promote students to go into the trade because it is considered as a second-class, blue-collar occupation,” Tran said.
Tran said that apprenticeship is considered a secondary choice and a working occupation that does not lead to a lot of income, but that isn’t always true.
According to Tran, wages range from $27 to $39 per hour when starting as an apprentice. But there are more than just financial benefits.
“They [apprentices] will be making money beyond the minimum wage, plus they also receive health benefits and 401K [savings] when they retire if they stay in the program long enough,” Tran said.
Through promoting these benefits, Tran is working toward changing the negative narrative with apprenticeship programs.
“We want to let students know that it is equally the same thing as going to college … to let them know, ‘this could be an option if you don’t want to have debt and to make a good living,’” Tran said.