Apprenticeship

More workers graduated from Maryland apprenticeship programs during the 12 months ending in June than in the previous 20 years, the state said Wednesday. The nearly 1,500 recently graduated apprentices also represent a 28 percent increase over the number of graduates in the 2010 fiscal year, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said. Apprentices learn a trade while working in the field, graduating after several years of on-the-job experience and classroom instruction.

More workers graduated from Maryland apprenticeship programs during the 12 months ending in June than in the previous 20 years, the state said Wednesday. The nearly 1,500 recently graduated apprentices also represent a 28 percent increase over the number of graduates in the 2010 fiscal year, the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said. Apprentices learn a trade while working in the field, graduating after several years of on-the-job experience and classroom instruction.

To train the workforce of the future, Maryland is hoping to sell high-tech employers and companies in other growth industries on a millennia-old solution. Apprenticeship. Such on-the-job training was once the dominant method of producing skilled workers — from artisans to attorneys to physicians. But its role in the United States shrank as industrialization revolutionized work and the importance of universities grew. Formal apprenticeships — in which entry-level employees work full-time in the field while attending classes on the side — are now overwhelmingly the domain of construction and a few manufacturing trades.

To train the workforce of the future, Maryland is hoping to sell high-tech employers and companies in other growth industries on a millennia-old solution. Apprenticeship. Such on-the-job training was once the dominant method of producing skilled workers — from artisans to attorneys to physicians. But its role in the United States shrank as industrialization revolutionized work and the importance of universities grew. Formal apprenticeships — in which entry-level employees work full-time in the field while attending classes on the side — are now overwhelmingly the domain of construction and a few manufacturing trades.

Del. John J. Bishop Jr. and Del. Martha S. Klima, both of Baltimore County, have announced they will run for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. They are the first incumbent Republican state legislators to run for the Senate (or for governor) in well over a decade. One of the problems with the Republican Party in Maryland has been the lack of a tradition of apprenticeship -- of moving up the ladder from one level of responsibility and visibility to the next.Democrats have embraced this approach.

FOR STEVE JACKSON, hard work and dedication have provided a great down payment on his future. Jackson, a senior at Carroll County Career and Technology Center in Westminster, is one of the youngest students enrolled in a Maryland apprentice program. The 17-year-old, who began his apprenticeship last June as part of the school's Career Connections program, finished his final English credit last semester and is working full time at Fairlawn Tool and Die in Greenmount. "He's earning a good wage and is in a registered apprenticeship program leading to certification," said William R. Hill, coordinator of the Career Connections program.

The idea of a brand-new school-to-work transition -- a mix of on-the-job apprenticeships and continuing course work for the youth who aren't headed for college -- seems poised to sweep the nation.International competition is the driving force. American industries complain of lack of skilled labor. And evidence shows that countries such as Germany and Japan, which have farsightedly trained cadres of highly skilled semi-professional and craft workers, are adapting far more nimbly to new technological challenges.

It's 4 p.m. and Jacques Pepin should look like a collapsed souffle, but the cooking legend is every bit as warm and charming as fresh brioche. Never a morning person -- chefs rarely are -- Pepin has been up since 5 a.m. promoting his memoirs, a book 15 years in the making. But there he is -- cheerful and smiling, graciously accepting introductions to the manager and head chef of Washington's tony Four Seasons Hotel. The men are as excited as first-year apprentices to be around him. "Everyone wants to be a chef these days," Pepin, 67, who's held the title for a half century or so, says with a knowing laugh.

25 Years Ago (Week of June 2-8, 1968):* The construction industry educational program offered jobs "immediately upon graduation" from high school in a carpentry apprenticeship program. Starting pay was $2.90 per hour. Health insurance and paid vacations were provided. Raises were given every six months. Workers successfully completing the apprenticeship program would then go on to work as journeymen for $5.15 per hour.50 Years Ago (week of June 6-12, 1943):* The Citizens War Service Committee of the First District announced the opening of a home canning center at Elkridge High School.

The time has come for Maryland state legislators to stoptinkering with our system of public education and perform a major overhaul.It is imperative that our representatives understand that the American education system suffers from serious philosophical and structural problems that must be addressed with an open, forward-thinking mind if our students hope to be socially and economically prepared for the times ahead. Bold steps are needed, and we should look to Europe for a progressive model of education.

As a freshman, Bel Air's Donn Hill Jr. showed the skills to be a point guard. He wasn't afraid to drive to the basket, knew how to run a fast break and could hit midrange jump shots. Bel Air coach Nate Weigl envisioned him as a role player, someone who could help the team off the bench and maybe play 10 minutes a game. Hill liked the idea, but his parents did not. They wanted him to play on the junior varsity because he'd get regular playing time. Weigl was surprised when the freshman told him what his parents wanted, but he let Hill stay with the JV. Not surprisingly, he was a standout.

Armed with paper, pens, felt and glue, the middle-school girls could have very well set out to create pictures or simple crafts. Instead, sitting in small groups, they brainstormed, they problem-solved, they engineered. And they had a whole lot of fun. That's the message women's engineering students at the Johns Hopkins University tried to sell to more than 100 girls who attended a university program yesterday to promote the male-dominated profession to females. Participants were asked to develop solutions for disabled people - such as inventing shoes that a person without arms could put on or a sled that a person with a spinal cord deficiency could ride - and then construct a prototype.

Carlisa "Lisa" Mitchell Electrical apprentice, Enterprise Electric Co.; member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 24 AGE -- 28 YEARS IN BUSINESS -- In final year of five-year apprenticeship. PAY -- Currently $20.78 an hour but that will increase to $27.70 an hour once she graduates from the Baltimore Electrical Training Center in May. HOW SHE STARTED -- She started out considering a career in business, "but then I realized I cannot arrive at an office and sit behind a desk for the next 30 years of my life."

On Saturday, May 7, 2005, RALPHTHOMAS, 81, father of David and wife Bonnie of Bethany Beach, DE, and Ronald and wife Gail of Salisbury, MD, as well as six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by his parents, Howell and Eunice Thomas and two brothers, Crawford and Joseph. He was reared in Brooklyn and graduated from Poly. As a S/Sgt in the Army/Air Force in WWII, he was a B24 gunner serving in Africa and Europe. After the service, he joined Carpenters Local 101, served his apprenticeship and went on to become president of the Local.

Richard Dennis Rohl, a machinist, avid gardener and traveler, died June 30 of complications from Parkinson's disease at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. The Parkville resident was 79. Mr. Rohl was raised in Northeast Baltimore and graduated from Lake Clifton High School in 1941. He joined the Coast Guard and began a machinist's apprenticeship before being drafted into the Army, where he was a private first class in the Signal Corps in the Pacific and received two Bronze Stars. After returning home, he completed his Coast Guard apprenticeship before taking a job as a machinist at American Can Co. in the early 1950s.

It's 4 p.m. and Jacques Pepin should look like a collapsed souffle, but the cooking legend is every bit as warm and charming as fresh brioche. Never a morning person -- chefs rarely are -- Pepin has been up since 5 a.m. promoting his memoirs, a book 15 years in the making. But there he is -- cheerful and smiling, graciously accepting introductions to the manager and head chef of Washington's tony Four Seasons Hotel. The men are as excited as first-year apprentices to be around him. "Everyone wants to be a chef these days," Pepin, 67, who's held the title for a half century or so, says with a knowing laugh.

Richard Dennis Rohl, a machinist, avid gardener and traveler, died June 30 of complications from Parkinson's disease at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. The Parkville resident was 79. Mr. Rohl was raised in Northeast Baltimore and graduated from Lake Clifton High School in 1941. He joined the Coast Guard and began a machinist's apprenticeship before being drafted into the Army, where he was a private first class in the Signal Corps in the Pacific and received two Bronze Stars. After returning home, he completed his Coast Guard apprenticeship before taking a job as a machinist at American Can Co. in the early 1950s.

The nation will need 150,000 more electricians by the turn of the century, and welfare recipients need jobs.That makes for a perfect combination of supply and demand, according to Independent Electrical Contractors, a national trade association with a chapter in Odenton.I.E.C. Chesapeake is opening a training building in Odenton and wants to fill it with area welfare recipients willing to become electrician apprentices."Each week in the Sunday employment section, there's about 10 to 20 companies that are hiring electricians," said Grant Shmelzer, executive director of I.E.C.

David Cassidy, who's been in the shipbuilding business since he was a teen-ager in England, was named the new president and chief executive of Baltimore Marine Industries Inc., the Sparrows Point shipyard said yesterday. Cassidy grew up in Newcastle, England, near the border with Scotland and began a five-year shipbuilding apprenticeship when he was 15 years old. He's been in the business ever since, except during his years earning a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master's in fluid mechanics.

Just because you're in your early 50s or mid-60s and you can retire doesn't mean you're ready to mothball your work clothes and sprint off to Florida. OK, it sounds good. But how long until you'd be bored? Instead, you choose to lasso your dream job, one that's fun, satisfying and meaningful. That's what's happening across the country. Many would-be retirees are returning to school, getting retrained and launching second careers. They're swapping fancy offices and executive desks for construction sites and tool belts, opening a bed and breakfast or teaching.