See how it's getting wet. Yeah, I can start making it easier. What's gonna happen is as we compress this, it actually squeezes real tight and seals it up any water onendon now, because what does what I like to do? Like the follow Campbell's right, it's gonna prevent it. If I'm going in science, you know, you're gonna have friends and don't even have full times jobs, and you're making you know, anywhere between thirty and fifty sixty dollars a year.
You know what I mean, right after the apprenticeship program, buying your first house, you know I mean that. I mean the guy bought his first house. It's twenty four years old. That's Electrical Superintendent Chad Cook. And the twenty four year old homeowner he's talking about is an electrician with a great start to his career. With the economy ever uncertain, young people trained as electricians, plumbers, auto mechanics, food service, hospitality and healthcare workers, they all will have
a tremendous advantage in life. On this edition of On the Job, From Hired to Retired, we visit a high school where students trained for great jobs and a lifetime of opportunity. And speaking of opportunity, you should know that our sponsor, Express Employment Professionals, is all about opportunity. In fact, over the past thirty four years, Express Employment Professionals has put millions of people to work in meaningful and fulfilling
jobs and careers. If you're looking for work or just want to grow your workforce, go to express pros dot com. I'm your host, Steve Mencher with episode two of On the Job From Hired to Retired. I don't know about you, but I went to a high school that didn't have any kind of shop class or homec or anything like that. Ours was the Fame high school in New York City. We specialized in music and visual arts, and our sister school across town added dance and theater to the mix.
But I am old enough to remember that many of my male friends and peers would have been learning how to use tools and build things and and fix cars as part of high school, while girls were often sent off to classes where they learned how to cook and type and partake in other mysteries. Well, today, in Wheaton, Maryland, one high school takes the shop class and stands it on its year At Thomas Edison High School of Technology. Students staff auto shops, a busy restaurant, a computer and
technical workshop, and a full service salon. They're learning about health careers as well. And get this, Every two years, these students design and build a home that's put on the market and sold. This year's house might go for say six hundred thousand dollars or more. This is college and Career Technical high School. That's Peter Kaja, principal at Edison.
There's twenty five comprehensive high schools in Montgomery County, and so we draw from all twenty five and kids either come here in the morning for two and a half hours and then go back to the home school for their core academic classes, or the reverse. It takes the place of some of their electives at their home school. When I visited Edison recently, Carlos Nalda, the College and
Career Information coordinator, walked me around the school. It's important to note that students here, more than five per cent of them go on to community college, four year colleges, technical schools, and apprenticeships. They're starting on their careers, but they know that more education is also in the cards. Some of them will just do plumbing or carpentry or car repairs a hobby for others. They've already decided what the future looks like, and they're getting a giant head start.
One thing that's a bit surprising as you go through the school is that students are teaching other students in ways that confirm and extend what they're learning. So if you did twenty five million leaders on there, you might want to use this one actually, because this one's in milli leaders, then you can do twenty million leaders on here.
I've never wanted to be a teacher or anything like that, but I enjoy helping when it comes to like cosmetology, I enjoy like helping them and teaching them like tricks and stuff on how to do things faster. Ella Miller is a natural in the salon, and, despite what she says,
a born teacher helping other newer students. But her dream is to go to Hollywood and learn how to do the magic that makes us suspend our disbelief at the movies, from fake blood to aging makeup, to creating characters like Spock in Star Trek whose pointy ears have to be just right. I asked her about Rick Baker, a superstar in the movie Makeup Field, He Want Oscars for Men in Black and How the Grinch Soul Christmas, among other films. One of the schools I wasn't actually is a scholarship
named after him. He's very good. My inspiration is this woman named Vanil. She's spectacular, her work is very detailed. She's always been someone I look up to. And it's no wonder. Among v Neil's Oscar nominations and she won the statuette for this one is Mrs doubt Fire, where the whole movie hinges on making Robin Williams into a believable woman. She also did makeup for Tim Burton's phantasmagorical Beetlejuice. Ella's favorite recent flick is X Men Apocalypse, where one
actor's makeup blue people's minds. Whether or not Ella succeeds in Hollywood. Free education in the basics of hair and makeup is a pretty good deal. It's incredible that I don't have to like I only have to pay for like my basic kit. I don't have to pay for like a normal school should be like thirty five to forty dollars for like the one year. And this is three years and it's not costing me anywhere near that for my kit, which is the only thing I have
to pay for. So that's just an incredible opportunity that I'm so glad I was able to find it. Around the corner from the hair salon, students are serving lunch two members of the community at Cafe Edison and learning all the tricks of the trade from too long time pros Jason Poddock and Teresa Marie Smith on the club. This is going to table thank you, table seat one. Did you ever wonder what the difference is between a waiter who knows what you ordered and one who asks
who gets this burger? Well, for hospitality teacher Jason Poddock, one of these situations is just not okay. They have to put it to correct table number. For example, this is table seventeen. Everything's got to go to position one or position too, because a big thing we do is separate checks. I'm looking for that the customer satisfied. Now. I I noticed when I read restaurant reviews and when I go to a restaurant, there's a big difference between someone who brings the food out to the table and
kind of asks you know the bidding. Oh I've got through such and such versus what I hear going on in your kitchen saying this goes to position to take it right out. Because we don't auction food. That's why I spend a lot of time teaching them the position numbers, and sometimes I get confused and put in the wrong one. But it's a machine. We have a machine in place
that if everyone does their job, everything rolls roll. Smoothing Chef Theresa Marie Smith runs the kind of kitchen that will be familiar to anyone who's a fan of cooking shows on TV. Besides teaching them skills knife cuts, measuring, how do you use commercial equipment, cooking methods, but we also teach kids how to behave in the kitchen, because if you don't behave well in the kitchen, you won't
last very long in the kitchen. Right and and some of them might get the kind of cliche behavior that they see on TV where it's very rigorous, so almost military is that still exists, So you have to you teach them how to follow orders. I try. Some learn
well and some learn less well. Blanca, an Honor Roll junior at Montgomery Blair High school in addition to being a student at Edison, is one of those learning Well, here's what's on her mind as she brings plates to six women who appear to be in their seventies and navies. I hope they enjoy the food. I hope they are having a wonderful server like my manners. I hope they're liking my manners and my personality. Blanca isn't sure she'll
go into a career in food service. Her plan is to stay at Edison and take medical assistant classes next year. But for Louise, who's studying plumbing, Edison provides a leg up in the field, he's pretty sure he'd like to stay in for the long term. For me, why now,
that's my future job. That's what I'm looking for right now, and it's really helpful to get classes like days for free and right now every day I see it here, I do my math and learn everything as much as I can and try to get better each day as as much as I can. As Luis works math problems, his teacher is getting ready for the rest of the class to arrive. My name is Stan holcomb Um, the plumbing teacher at Edison High School and I'm a licensed
master plumber. I'm licensing DC, Maryland and Virginia. This class I've taught for what's going on in my eleventh year, and this has been one of the most rewarding things that I could ever imagine. One of the reasons is that my father was the third African American to have a master plumber's license in Washington, d C. And it's always been about giving back bringing people into the trade because traditionally the trade has always been for those who
are high school dropouts are uneducated. But now it's so much more streamlined because, especially in this class is a lot of math, especially linear measurements. But one good thing about this um is that all plumbers have to be licensed and just about every state in the United States, and in order to be licensed, you have to complete a four year apprentice program. Students at Edison need only two more years of apprenticeship after they graduate high school,
allowing them to save thousands of dollars. That kind of saving is a common refrain in all the programs here. Most plumbers would be in their mid twenties at least when they finish an apprenticeship, but not the students from Edison they're getting a license by the time they're twenty
years old. Then two years later they can actually get a master's license, and they're twenty two years old when they're gonna have their own business, and they start off almost nineteen dollars an hour plus five dollars in benefits per hour, so every year they get a five dollar raise. One thing that's a little complicated about Edison is that three nonprofits help with fun ling money into the program for important things like fees to take tests and earn certificates,
as well as materials and other expenses. One big contribution of the foundations is their connection to companies that help the students keep up with the very latest techniques and knowledge in the various trades and also directly higher students who want to work right out of high school today to representatives from a local electric contractor or visiting encouraging kids to apply for a newly minted scholarship to help
them afford expenses connected to apprenticeship in their industry. The scholarship program is just to get you guys motivated for the industry. I mean, you know, as an industry at a whole. No matter which company you guys want to go for We want to recruit for the industry. I mean, there's a value there because even though you may take this and go work for somebody else a couple of years, you may be knocking on my doorstaid, Hey, by the way, you know you gave me that scholarship three years ago,
and you know here's where I'm at now. Great, you know what mean absolutely, and we're gonna you may end up right back on my doorsteps, so that this investment may still pay off even if you chose to go somewhere else. And that's how we look at it and value. Yeah. So to recap, Ultimate Electric is here. There are a business partner working with us, supporting the programs, and they're here to offer you an opportunity if you're interested in
working in the electrical industry. It gives you the chance to participate in a post secondary program post secondary meaning after high school training program while working and being able to pay your bills. So any questions about that seems like the only question would be where do I sign up. We're gonna take a little break and when we come back, we'll visit the home these students are building in a lovely neighborhood, convenient to stores, restaurants, and major thoroughfares, but
tucked away from the hustle and bustle of traffic. It's a student designed and built home that will sell well north of five hundred thousand dollars. You're listening to On the Job From Hired to Retired, brought to you by Express Employment Professionals. I'm Steve Mencher. One company is on a mission to put a million people to work each year. Sounds like a big number, doesn't it not to Express Employment Professionals seeking a skilled labor position or administrative order.
Maybe you're an executive looking for a career that fits supporting. We take pride in connecting the right people with the right company. Express Employment Professionals is on a mission to put a million people to work each year. Let us help. We'll open doors for you. Go to express pros dot com to find a location near you. Welcome back to On the Job, From Hired to Retired, brought to you
by Express Employment Professionals. At Thomas Edison High School of Technology, the construction students in various trades perform a small miracle. Every two years. They design, build and sell a house and my name is staying Out. I'm the site manager at the student build house. Okay, why don't you take me on a little tour before the kids get here. Okay, this is their living room and it's got plenty of windows in it, which is good. This over here's your
dining room, and this is your eating kitchen. There's gonna be a window right there at the sink you got right here. These two windows look into the family room. This area over here is going to be a deck, and then there's going to be a whole flight of stairs going down to the backyard. This over here's your family room. We're gonna get skylights in here, and we're gonna have skylights in the kitchen, also in the cathedral ceiling,
your fireplaces there. Once we get the skylights in this room is gonna be one of the brightest ones around. It's early on a Monday morning and the students are on their way. They'll be divided into work cruise tackling plumbing, electrical, h v a, C, masonry, and other necessary tasks. And not only did the kids build a house, but the kids also designed the house. So one student every years entered in a competition about designing a house, and they design it. So this is a student build house, one
of a kind, fabulous. How many square feet is this house? What do you call it? I think it's gonna be around four thousand. Wow, that's a pretty big house. Yeah, oh yeah, it's all. It'll be a nice house. They're gonna be up on the second floor. There's gonna be a deck going out on top of the front porch. Now, someone would come and say, it was a little hard to imagine that kids, high school kids were actually building this house. Is it that they are sitting around watching
and you guys are doing all the work? Or do you make them work? I'm getting too old to work. No, I know the Uh, the students enjoy it. They would rather be out here working. The teachers explain what they have to do, and then we let the kids go ahead and do it, and sometimes they make mistakes, but that's okay. It's it's a learning process. I'm a really active person, so seeing in the classroom all day it's
just kind of not my thing. So once I discover Edison and the carpentry program, like, I was really interested, So I really enjoy it. It's awesome. Educators know that students have many different learning styles and for some, like Joseph Bunky, sitting all day at a desk is torture. That's why this carpentry student has been thriving at Edison and loves the daily visits to the student build house since the students build a complete house every two years.
Last year, Bunky learned finish work, cabinet, treat, dry wool and so forth. This year, starting the new house has been about the outside and the basic bones of the house. I've been learning a lot about basic framing and putting in windows and putting in a floora joyce and the subfloor. So it's been great. As a second year student, Bunkie, who has flowing blonde hair beneath his hard hat, has been in charge of a small crew of beginners. It feels good to actually help someone and teach them what
I know. Another crew leader is Jordan Johnson in the h v a C Heating, Ventilation and air Conditioning program. How many young women are in the h v a C program? Just one one, which is you? How does that feel? Is that? Is that comfortable? You feel like you're one of the guys. Do they treat you just like anybody else. Very comfortable. Yeah, they treat me as one of the guys. They shoot me as a person. Jordan Johnson is a seventeen year old senior at Seneca
Valley High School and at Edison. She takes quite a trip back and forth each day, but that's just fine with her. The past few weeks have been busy for the h v a C crew at the student built house. We learned how to construct the duck work. Right now we're learning how to put the trunk line in for the fans and right now for the return ducks too. Jordan's enthusiasm for this work has continued to grow since last summer, when she worked for her uncle's heating and
air conditioning business. Oh, we did new construction, which means put in the pipes for like like the liqua line in the suction line, like running it through the house, so that means that you got air conditioning all over the house. Um. We did service calls just mean check to see if it's enough, free on, if the systems running correctly, and if we need to fix anything, we fix it. And did they treat you again just sort of like one of the guys, Let you do anything
that you were able to do. Yeah, they treat me like one of the guys, showing me what I'm supposed to do, what I'm not supposed to do, and all of the other stuff. Great. See, like you know, even in this day and age, that you will be a bit of a pioneer doing what you're doing. How does that feel? It's awesome? Tell me more about that, um, meaning like I can show other people that what I was doing influence other women to do it too, that not only guys can do this type of work. Okay, wonderful.
Now I saw you or already helping out some of your classmates with things. Yeah, it's awesome. How do you how do you take on that role? Um? I teach? I take it as a learning lesson and teaching others saying that you should do this instead of the other way or given them easier, easier ways to do instead of the hard way. Great, And what does that make you feel? Makes you feel awesome? Because I'm able to
teach somebody else what I've learned from my teacher. Has anyone UH talked to you about what a what a great opportunity this is? Tell me what you're feeling about you know, the chance to learn these things before you're even out of high school. Um, it's really good because you get that. You can either choose to go to college ship further you're in for you're learning, or you can just go right into the workforce, which is really good. Which do you think you're gonna do? Um, don't do both.
Troy Lancaster is a paraprofessional educator at the job site. From his vantage point, the kids at work on the house today are going to have a big advantage over their peers who might go to college but haven't picked up a trade because about the time they're like twenty years old, they're making like thirty hour versus when you're
coming out out of college. You may get lucky and find a job, because I know, jobs today are real scarce, and you know, these kids have opportunities where if they take it very seriously, they'll be able to find a career right out of high school, not having to wait, you know, a long period of time like some of these college kids are doing nowadays. See, I can already feel inside here's kind of twisted. Because if you twisted really really tight, and this chord might cost you know,
forty or fifty dollar. Paul Ross is another power educator on the site. At the age of sixty eight. He'd rather be doing this than anything else, he can imagine. He remembers when he started doing carpentry in the nine we were only allowed to carry lumber. We were leaving allowed to pick up a hammer. These guys are really lucky because they know how to hang doors, they know how to hang windows, they know how to do rafting, they knew how to do layout. That's a big deal
to be. You know, a high school student that knows how he to know how to build a six hundred thousand dollar house. I mean, that's a big deal, a big deal indeed. As the crew from Thomas Edison High School of Technology in Wheaton, Maryland gets ready to knock off for the day, that's all for this edition of On the Job from Hired Too, Retired from Express Employment Professionals. Fund out more at Express prose dot com. This podcast is produced by Steve Mencher for Men's Media and Red
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