One of the many questions students get asked about is what they want to do or continue on later in life. The future is chaotically stressful to speculate on as the world fluctuates sporadically. In the end, time stops for no one, and with the current economy, perhaps the best thing someone could do for themselves is securing a promising position in an enjoyable field. 

There are many programs with dual enrollment offered at East, where classes give more opportunities for future jobs and colleges. The Frank Kumor Career and the Metropolitan Community College (MCC) offer programs for a variety of fields. This includes health sciences, family  and consumer sciences, and lastly, skilled and technical sciences. For the students who prefer hands-on activities, counselor Kacie Anderson and advisor Alyssa Wiese are some of the many navigators that can help coordinate opportunities within. 

“I would encourage [students] just to come into my office to have a conversation,” Anderson said. “Also though, Mr. Patras and Mr. Cote are wonderful people to talk to who are super knowledgeable not only about MCC trade programs, but just working in trades in general.”

Skill Tech and Woods are classes offered at East with levels from intermediate to advanced. Construction I and II are the only classes where students can earn dual credit for institutions like MCC. Skill tech instructor Logan Patras teaches students how to work with metals, while skill tech instructor Robert Cote specializes in woods. These classes are introductions for what hands-on students could expect later on, where concepts like Occupational Safety and Health Administration policies are implemented year round. With the classroom’s standardized procedures, everything is organized like a workshop so that students can get a “real feel” on what’s to be expected. 

“Me and Mr. Cote are actually working right now to get it [our material] more towards the side of trying to gain practical skills,” Patras said, “I think it’s a really good way to gain exposure.”

Shop classes aren’t the only form of trades East has to offer. Students can also join a career academy at Metro Community College.

“When you go to a MCC career academy, there’s a level of rigor that’s a little bit higher because it is a college level course. So be expected to turn your work in on one time, be on time, show up to class; those types of things,” Anderson said, “But also be expected that you’re going to have some great professors that know so much about the trade program that you’re learning about.”

 Sophomore Adeline Gunter got to attend an MCC manufacturing field trip. She noted that the stations she took part in were friendly for all levels of experience. 

“I feel like they give a pretty good overview of what you’ll be doing in those fields and what you could be doing,” Gunter said. “We actually worked with wires, we got to weld, and we got to do plasma cutting.”

Other than the experience of working with professional equipment, students gain practical hands-on skills and background experience, along with a wider perspective in the range of potential careers. Additionally, this type of work is becoming increasingly in demand as positions need their replacements as the generations age. 

“I see a lot of students even from Bellevue who are really interested in the trades and start working and earning salaries as early as eighteen,” Wiese said, “so right when they graduate there’s a large number of students who are earning a very livable wage with benefits right out of high school.”

All in all, trades is a promising field to work in if students enjoy moving around in their workplace environment, while using their hands more often than not. In the upcoming years, there will be a four to sixty percent increase in the growth of the trades, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. All students are welcome to explore the trades at Bellevue East.

“I have pulled kids from I think, every kind of demographic you could kind of think of in our school,” Anderson said, “so really, a student that’s welcome to come of these field trips or apply to MCC career academies is just someone that expresses interest, and or has taken Mr. Cote and Mr. Patras’s intro to skill tech class.”