Warrenton High School students got hands-on experience last week with a program they can potentially pursue further after graduating to become professional union carpenters.

The Pre-Apprentice Technical Training School (PATTS) brought a trailer and construction materials to the school, where they set up in a corner of the parking lot to teach their Education, Development, Growth and Employment (EDGE) program.

Principal Shelly Struckhoff said the school was able to identify students who might have an interest in working in the carpentry trade and selected them for the week-long program to give them a chance to see if it was something they wanted to pursue further.

“I’m always looking for new ways to give students real-life experience that will help them determine what they want to do when they leave here,” Struckhoff said. “I mean, that’s what it’s about, it’s training kids to be productive and good citizens in a career path that they enjoy.”

William Bell, outreach support specialist and PATTS EDGE instructor, said graduating seniors who expressed interest were encouraged to take a longer, three-week course at the PATTS training center.

“And that’s like the more in-depth version of this,” he said. “So that way, when they get out there and step on the job site, they have all the confidence to know what’s expected of them, what to do, where to go, what do things look like, how to operate as a carpenter apprentice without feeling lost and intimidated by not knowing what to expect when they step out there.”

PATTS is affiliated with the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, which has more than 58,000 members across Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa.

“We are the training center for the carpenters’ union, so once they complete those pre-apprenticeship programs, they’ll actually get hired on by one of our signatory contractors, so then they’ll start working in the field,” Bell said.

“They’ll work for like three months, come down for one week for school, and that’s the actual apprenticeship. They get paid to learn and they get a lot of certifications and things like that, and then once they complete their apprenticeship, that’s when they earn the level of a journey-level carpenter with a certificate from the Department of Labor.”

Bell said not all the students were showing much interest in going further with the program, but some were.

Skyler Johnson, a junior who is also in the carpentry and equipment program at Four Rivers Career Center in Washington, said while he had previously learned some of the basic carpentry skills taught in the EDGE program last week, getting the added experience was helpful.

“It’s just extra practice, more hands-on. That’s what I prefer, you know. I like more hands-on stuff instead of in the classroom and all that,” he said.

“I really enjoy this program and I’m very grateful that we got the opportunity and they came to our school, and I’m just here to take what I can, and hopefully, you know, get a job out of it.”