Nov 18, 2012

Edgerton students learn local trades, get paid doing it

Excerpted from Janesville Gazette
By Neil Johnson

It was 7:45 a.m. on a Thursday, and high school junior Dylan Counter already had been at work nearly two hours at Componex in Edgerton.

Across the plant floor, sophomore Kaleb Kruckenberg eyed a computer monitor as he tapped a metal balancing rod into the end of a finished aluminum shaft.

This was work but also school for Counter and Kruckenberg. They are guinea pigs—picks of the guinea pig litter, actually—for “Pipeline to Employment,” a new public-private work-study program between the Edgerton School District and several area businesses. Componex, a small Edgerton company that manufactures precision aluminum rollers for printing, laminating and product packaging, chose Counter and Kruckenberg from a pool of five Edgerton High School students who applied eight weeks ago for a new, paid internship and apprenticeship program at the plant.

The program is the first of a host of potential planned partnerships, and it’s being trumpeted as a big win for the school district and local manufacturers.

District officials say it gives students a jump on learning real-life job skills. Business owners say the program grooms students for potential future careers in the local workforce at a time when industries nationally are battling the “skills gap”—a critical shortage of workers with the talents needed for precision work in manufacturing and technology fields.

Read the full article.

Economic Development & Diversity Summit Tickets on Sale Now
This is default text for notification bar