Photo credit: Jolie Plewa

OPPORTUNITY AWAITS | Even students who are planning on attending college were able to gain experience from Skilled Trades Career Night. Counselor Jill Davenport believes that it is an opportunity to get to know the world that students will be entering into and a chance to think about something other than typical secondary schooling. The event gives students the resources and knowledge to begin to build a future for themselves, through college, or not. “It is important to attend for exposure to the opportunities and the steps it takes to obtain the skills needed,” Davenport said.

Giving students an opportunity to look at different paths other than college, the district’s annual Skilled Trades Career Night was hosted in the North’s gymnasium on Feb. 27. From cosmetology to firefighting, the event allowed students to explore union and non-union jobs. 

Helping to oversee the event this year, counselor Jill Davenport aimed to dispel the misconceptions of trades and encourage students to explore options other than typical secondary school. 

“That you do not make good money, that tradespeople are ‘not smart’, that it takes very little to become a tradesperson,” Davenport said. “All of which are wrong.”

Some students have been planning on becoming involved in a certain trade for a while, and this night gave them opportunities to begin the next steps to their future career. One of these students is senior Owen Reiter, who is eager to hear from others with true trade experience as he plans his own work path after high school.

“I was very interested in seeing the stands because I want to pursue a job in the trade industry,” Reiter said. “I would like to get into either carpentry or being an electrician for personal gain, and maybe to even own a business one day.”

At the event, numerous booths offered apprenticeships and education on the spot, allowing students to leave with resources and connections to local professionals. One of these professionals is recruitment outreach for Must Construction Careers, Prudence Rose, who encourages families to pursue the trade route.

“If they pay attention and they seriously want to get into construction I think it will have a great benefit for them,” Rose said. “I’m so glad that Grosse Pointe North does this event to give the opportunities to these young people that they normally would not get.”

Even though college is seen as the popular path after high school, Davenport wants students to understand that they can succeed through the trades as well. Through encouraging students to get passionate about different job opportunities, Davenport hopes this event can inspire students to potentially follow these career paths into the future.

“Last year we had at least 10 [students] go into a trades field,” Davenport said. “When a student does not want to go to college they initially get a job but quickly realize you cannot make enough money as an unskilled worker and then they start exploring opportunities, our goal is that they explore while in high school so that when they graduate they can pursue skilled trades opportunities.”