Dean Snyder Construction is partnering with the Clear Lake Community School District to offer a Carpentry Apprenticeship Program for high school students. The program is designed to combine high-quality, industry-focused classroom training while also working with our own skilled carpenters for on-the-job learning.
The program’s goal is to better prepare students to enter the workforce after graduation while also providing them with awareness of career options available in a high-demand industry, without the unnecessary expense of college.
Upon completion of classroom instruction and showing proficiency in industrial tech shop standards, selected students may then continue their training by working on a selected project with DSC. Students must be in 11th or 12th grade and will work approximately 2 hours per day on our projects. It is the initial goal of the carpentry apprenticeship program to enroll one to three students.
“The program is really a stepping-stone,” Brian Carrott, Director of Human Resources told the Globe Gazette in a recent article. “Right now, they’re learning the basics. From here they could go into architecture, they could go into engineering, or they could go into construction, too. It all depends on what they want to do.”
Helping the program get its initial start, the district applied for and received a $50,000 Coronavirus Relief Fund Registered Apprenticeship Expansion Grant from the State of Iowa. These grants were made available to increase the current number of training programs available in Iowa high schools and can be used to purchase equipment, training materials/curriculum, or other items related to starting or expanding apprenticeship programs. DSC also donated $6,500 to the district earlier this year to help it purchase tools to set up the carpentry shop at the high school.