The now-18-year-old knew he wanted to be part of the crew.
That day, Mr. Beisler — a 2024 South Allegheny High School graduate who today is an apprentice with Operating Engineers Local 66, which works with heavy equipment at the airport — was put on the path to his future career through the guidance of the district's workforce development coordinator who signed him up for the tour to show him jobs he could pursue after graduation.
"It was a real great thing," Mr. Beisler said. "I never figured I'd be doing something like this. ... I didn't even know what I wanted to do till this year."
Mr. Beisler's experience is part of a growing trend across the country as districts hire intermediary positions to help students not pursuing college degrees go straight into the workforce while also mentoring college-bound students hoping to earn credits and certifications while still in high school.
Locally, at least two area districts — South Allegheny in Allegheny County and River Valley in Indiana and Westmoreland counties — hired workforce-based positions. It's seemingly the next step schools are taking as they shift from a college-ready mindset to one that includes the trades as possible careers.
"A lot of these ideas are placing an emphasis on very individualized, student-centered learning opportunities that are going to engage students [and] provide them with skills they need to be successful in today's world," said Paige Shoemaker DeMio, a policy analyst for K-12 education at the Center for American Progress, an independent, nonpartisan policy institute.
According to Ms. DeMio, changes to the college-for-all mindset started after the pandemic. Schools at the time were struggling to recover and many were reimagining how students were taught. And other factors such as the growing student loan debt crisis have caused high school graduates to consider a career in the trades, jobs K-12 schools are now helping students prepare for.
Part of that, Ms. DeMio said, is the implementation of intermediary positions, organizations or people who help facilitate public-private partnerships to provide work-based learning opportunities, such as the workforce development coordinators.
So far, three states have created similar positions including Arizona, which contracted with a nonprofit to provide a career-mapping tool to connect students with apprenticeships and internships; Colorado, where an apprenticeship navigator program raises awareness about the apprentice programs; and Utah, where an apprenticeship intermediary builds relationships between the state's workforce development program, local education agencies and industry partners, the Center for American Progress found in an April survey.
That's on top of 34 states and Washington, D.C., that in 2023 enacted 80 laws related to work-based learning at the secondary level, meaning districts are now working to offer in-house trades programs while also partnering with local companies to give on-the-job training.
But more work still needs to be done.
The April survey found that 79 percent of high schoolers in 2023 were interested in participating in work-based learning experiences, but only 34 percent were aware of any opportunities, something Ms. DeMio attributed to challenges such as transportation, support services, language barriers and scheduling conflicts.
"Establishing a high quality work-based learning program can be complex," Ms. DeMio said. "It's involving the collaboration and commitment of both schools and local industry to develop opportunities that look quite different from traditional schooling."
LOCAL EFFORTS
Superintendent David McDonald stood at South Allegheny's graduation a few years ago, concerned as several students told him they did not have post-high school plans.
Mr. McDonald quickly jumped into action after that day, working to ensure that the half of South Allegheny graduates who go directly into the workforce are prepared for their next steps.
Today, the district of almost 1,400 students has several technical programs including manufacturing, construction, broadcasting, cybersecurity and aviation.
But in the past year, officials took it a step further. The workforce development coordinator position was created, today held by Laura Thomson who works to expose students to workforce careers, connect them with trade unions and help them take steps to earn certifications.
"I feel like I'm really making an impact," Ms. Thomson said. "When you have parents ... who look me in the eye, with tears in their eyes, and they're genuinely thanking me for getting their kid on the right path, getting their kid an opportunity, that's powerful."
Ms. Thomson also works with local organizations such as Master Builders' Association of Western Pennsylvania to help guide students pursuing trade jobs. Ms. Thomson collaborates with Lance Harrell, director of workforce development, who comes into the high school to teach money management classes aimed at helping 18-year-olds learn how to manage a steady income right out of high school.
He also gives presentations to high schoolers to expose them to the trades and possible careers — something they hope to bring to elementary students next year. The goal is to remove hurdles some students face when pursuing workforce careers.
"We just want to give everybody the exposure to let them find the pathways," Mr. Harrell said.
Similarly, River Valley's STEAM Academy is helping students make informed decisions about their futures, Director Shawna Little said.
"We're really creating this holistic experience for students that did not exist when I was in high school in the late '90s and early 2000s," Ms. Little said. "If you were quote unquote an academic student, you were going to college."
Now, she said, districts are talking to students about what they want to do "and we're helping you get there the most affordable way possible."
Today, the academy, going into its third year, offers several programs such as automation engineering, biomedical technology, electrical and teaching occupations.
Ms. Little, who started in her position last July, is working to grow program offerings by talking to community stakeholders to figure out which jobs have the highest need for workers while also gauging student interest in certain careers; she's currently talking to CVS Pharmacy about creating a pharmacy technician training program.
And those efforts are getting high schoolers excited "because they're seeing their fellow students get these jobs, get these apprenticeships and these opportunities that are life changing," Ms. Little said.
Now, districts are hoping to see that interest — and workforce development coordinator positions — grow in coming years.
"We're shifting that stigma of not going to college," Ms. Thomson said. "And I think people are more ready to hear that."
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