PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Navy has launched the second year of a program that helps train students from local career and technical schools for jobs in the maritime industry.
Through the Talent Pipeline Project, employers in the defense and shipbuilding industries commit to hiring graduates from Philly-area high schools, community colleges and technical schools.
Last year, 11 students from Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin, A. Philip Randolph Technical, and Jules E. Mastbaum high schools were among Pipeline Project hirees.
At a kickoff event Tuesday at the Navy Yard, Philadelphia School District Superintendent Tony Watlington said all of the students have charted a course for future classes to follow.
“Our first-year graduates of this program are certainly inspiring other students to see this as an opportunity,” he said.
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Of 2021’s 200 total graduates, six were hired by steel supplier Metals USA. HR manager Victoria Lowder admitted employers are having a hard time retaining workers.
“The employees that we hired do everything from laser-burning of steel to material-handling,” she said. “It is very difficult to find individuals. We’re willing to give sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, whatever it could be so the person doesn’t leave.”
Davis Haines, an electronics teacher at Randolph, aims to connect his students with potential jobs.
“All of us CTE [Career and Technical Education] teachers here, we’re constantly looking for employers for our students. So we’re out shaking hands and kissing babies and going to all of these different things to meet employers,” Haines said. “My students have gone off to be electricians. Some of them are working in the robotics industry. Some of them are actually working at a casino fixing slot machines, because it’s all electronics.”
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Of the 200 students hired last year, 78% are still on the job.
“You’re helping our students to jumpstart careers where they can earn competitive pay, have a career,” Watlington told the employers. “It’s also important because we get to be a part of helping this country.”