St. Mary’s High School first in state to offer Missouri Works Initiative pre-apprenticeship program

By SHERI GASSAWAY
Missouri Correspondent

St. Louis – Students at St. Mary’s High School will be offered even more career options thanks to the addition of a new building trades pre-apprenticeship program run by the Missouri Works Initiative, a non-profit organization sponsored and supported by the Missouri AFL-CIO.

The program, which teaches the nationally recognized North America’s Building Trades Union’s Multi-Craft Core Curriculum (MC3), will begin the first semester of next school year. It will count toward two consecutive elective classes and consist of 120 hours. It’s the first and only program of its kind for high school students in Missouri.

‘ACCESS TO ALL PATHS’
“We are very excited about the program and grateful to the local building trades for working with us,” said Mike England, president of the high school. “The career opportunities today are amazing, and we want our young men to have access to all paths leading to a successful future.”

The program will be similar to the Missouri Works Initiative’s St. Louis Building Union Diversity (BUD) program, which is a six-week course offering participants the opportunity to visit local building trade unions to give them hands-on basic training and a feel for each of the trades.

Some of the participating union training programs include:

• Bricklayers Local 1 Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Mid America Carpenters Regional Council Apprenticeship Program.
• Construction Craft Laborers Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Iron Workers Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Operating Engineers Local 513 Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Plumbers & Pipefitters Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Sheet Metal Workers Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Cement Masons Joint Apprenticeship Training Program.
• Floor Layers Joint Apprenticeship Program.

BUD PROGRAM SUCCESS
Originally, BUD was created in 2014 by the St. Louis Building & Construction Trades Council as a recruitment tool to encourage more minorities and women to get into the union-building trades. Since then, it has a graduation rate of 92 percent and a placement rate of 82 percent.

Based on the success of the BUD program, the Missouri Works Initiative last year took over the work of replicating the St. Louis program’s training and recruiting model statewide. Next school year, St. Mary’s will have its own BUD program.

DIFFERENT CAREER OPTION
“We’re thrilled about the partnership,” said Missouri AFL-CIO President Jake Hummel, a 24-year member of IBEW Local 1 and an alum of the high school. “It’s going to be just like our BUD program only on a high school basis. It’ll be for juniors or seniors who are seeking a different career option than college. It will provide a good introduction to the trades and hopefully get them placed.”

ABOUT ST. MARY’
St. Mary’s is a Catholic all-boys high school rooted in the Marinist tradition situated on a 27-acre campus in South St. Louis. It offers a comprehensive college prep curriculum and an honors program along with college credit courses.

The school, located in the Dutchtown Neighborhood, is one of the most diverse in the area, England said. The breakdown of students is 45 percent African American, 35 percent white, 15 percent Hispanic and five percent classifying themselves as “other.”

More than 60 percent of its students live within a five-mile radius and 95 percent receive financial aid. The high school opened in 1931 to serve working-class families who might not otherwise afford a quality Catholic education for their sons.

“For many, a career in the union building trades can be life changing,” Hummel said. “They join a union and go to apprentice school and receive hands on training in the field at no cost. In fact, they are paid to learn and work. And these are good paying jobs that offer outstanding benefits and pensions.”

HOW THE NEW PROGRAM CAME ABOUT
England said he’s always viewed the building trades as a very positive career path. He said that previously, the school was talking with Ranken Tech about a similar program and then Covid hit. Following Covid was the restructuring of the Archdiocese of St. Louis’ schools and parishes and the announcement that St. Mary’s would close.

After learning St. Mary’s would be run as an independent Catholic high school, England said he started reaching out to some of the high school’s many alumni who are in the building trades, one of whom was Hummel, who suggested the new program.

“We are proud that St. Mary’s will be the first high school in Missouri to offer this program,” England said. “Hopefully, someday we’ll be able to open our own training center and offer evening or weekday pre-apprenticeships to help lift up others in our community.”

Hummel noted that the Missouri Works Initiative is currently working with St. Louis Public Schools on a similar program. For more information on the initiative, visit moworksinitiative.org.