Vo-tech students accept offers as apprentices
BUTLER TWP — A couple Butler County high school seniors recently got a chance to don ball caps and pose with teachers and family for a photograph celebrating their post-graduation plans.
These students weren't signing letters of intent to play collegiate sports under full scholarship, though.
The seniors, both machine technology students at Butler County Vocational-Technical School, have accepted offers and were signing on to apprenticeship programs with Oberg Industries and Penn United Technologies — which both have manufacturing operations on Route 356 in Butler County.
They will begin work full time shortly after the school year wraps up.
“This is like getting a full-ride scholarship,” said Stacey Burk, vo-tech program development coordinator.
Burk said the school plans to stage signing days in the future to congratulate students and spread awareness of job training opportunities in the county.
The apprenticeship programs typically take four years but some students will get credit for participating in vo-tech or cooperative programs while still in high school.
Jake Sirich, a senior at Karns City High School, was a machine student during his junior year. For his senior year, he worked at Penn United in the mornings and went to high school in the afternoon. After graduation, he will join Penn United as an apprentice.
“My dad is in manufacturing, so I figured I would give it a shot,” Sirich said about enrolling at vo-tech.
Jim McKain, human resources manager with Penn United, said that there are not enough skilled people in the Butler area to fill the open jobs at Penn United, which does offer job training for candidates with at least a high school diploma.
“Without the vo-techs, there would be no place to find employees with any training at all,” McKain said.
Taylor Paga, a Mars High School senior, and Dillon Latini, a senior at Knoch High School, who could not make it to the signing ceremony, both were accepted to be apprentice precision grinders with Oberg starting in July.Taylor said she studied machine technology for three years at the vo-tech and worked at Oberg through a co-op program for the last year, including during the summer.She said she was interested in the fine arts and technology, and the work she will do at Oberg has elements of both those interests.“Finding a career that takes two things I like and puts them together is a great opportunity,” she said.With the apprenticeship, she will continue to learn a trade while getting paid.Students in the co-op program have a leg up on the competition, but any high school graduate can apply for an apprenticeship, said Linda Wood, training programs manager with Oberg.Applicants must complete the National Tooling and Machining Association test, the Butler County Community College math placement test, a behavioral survey and an interview to be considered. Taylor did well in all four parts of the process, Wood said.“She was a shining star through all of them,” she said.The company will have 15 or 16 apprentices starting this summer, she said.
