Norco High students, Aidan Donais (11th grade) and Matthew Gonzalez (12th grade) are the only Youth Apprentices in the skilled trades at the high school level in the entire State of California.
This Youth Apprenticeship is a Cabinetmaker position at WB Powell Inc. Both students have completed two years in the Cabinetry, Millwork, and Woodworking Pathway at Norco High School. They were recommended by their Norco High School instructor and were selected through an interview process. They are hired and paid by WB Powell and work approximately 15 hours per week in the morning before arriving to Norco High for classes.
Youth Apprenticeship is a course in CNUSD that works like work experience but is specific to the trade that the student is trained in. Their Career Technical Education teacher supervises their progress, communicates with the company, and assigns a grade. The relationship between the school, district, and company is instrumental in providing a successful educational experience for the students.
The students are evaluated every few months and are eligible for raises at that time. They also receive credit towards graduation.
This Youth Apprenticeship is now recognized as a Registered Youth Apprenticeship by the Department of Labor.
Career Technical Education in Corona-Norco Unified School District has grown from approximately eight programs district wide to 54 within the past ten years. These programs have been developed to meet the regional workforce needs as identified by the Inland Empire Desert Region Consortium for high need industry sectors for high paying skilled labor.
Apprenticeships have been one of the strongest forms of highly successful job training for thousands of years. The ability to provide Youth Apprenticeships to our high school students is instrumental in training them for, and connecting them to, high quality careers with the opportunities to excel in those careers through post-secondary education.
Being a Youth Apprentice has distinct advantages over job shadows, and internships. Youth Apprentices are hired by an industry partner to be their employee. As such, they are treated as budding professionals in their field, provided important training, paid a fair wage, earn high school and in some cases college credit, develop professional skills, and learn to be valued employees for high quality organizations.
CNUSD has developed a very tight relationship with Norco College and the Launch Apprenticeship organization to further the development of youth apprenticeships. We are aiming to add youth apprenticeships in the Education, Industrial Technology/Cybersecurity, Manufacturing, HVAC, Aviation Maintenance, Automotive, and other pathways over the next year.
