Welding is hot – and it’s part of a new vocational trades trend among students

Back in the latter 1950s to 1970s or so, it was known as “shop” and most boys were enrolled. The classes were a high school staple.

By the 1980s, though, the once-foundational skills courses began slipping away because of budget cuts, a shift toward modern technology and a growing emphasis on four-year college that led to stricter academic graduation requirements.

But now, interest in those trades for young people could be making a comeback.

For the past four years, a Los Angeles County program has been gaining steam, with summer and afterschool programs passing on the skilled trades that also pay students and help them earn credits.

The classes could also help them find career paths in the trades, including construction, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, welding and other now high-paying vocations that have seen worker shortages. Some areas also offer automotive tech/repair and solar installation.

Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, with links to sponsorships by some trade unions, offers hands-on training, summer wages and project work for younger students, all of which will benefit a workforce the sponsors say is aging and retiring.

“We do not have a pipeline of skilled workers to do these jobs,” the program’s literature says. “At the same time, we need to offer young people access to skilled trades training and education that creates pathways to economic mobility.”

Currently, there are eight locations for the flagship program of The Smidt Foundation, from the Harbor Area to Canoga Park to La Mirada. On Friday, July 12, a public demonstration and presentation took place highlighting two participants, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor and the Port of Los Angeles High School.

Several work stations were set up in the parking lot shared by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor and POLA, where students who have been in the program demonstrated what they have been learning.

Providing perhaps a peek into their futures, workers were busy building a mid-rise directly across the street at Harbor Boulevard and First Street in San Pedro.

For Andres Covarrubias, 17, of San Pedro, a recent graduate of POLA High School, participation in the program peaked an interest in welding.

The work involves mathematics, problem-solving — and a healthy respect for safety, he said.

“You have to have a steady hand,” he said.

At another station, students worked to build steps — which is harder than it looks.

Knowing trigonometry helps, construction instructor AnSe Serrano said.

Mike Lansing, the soon-to-retire CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor — and a former Los Angeles school board member — said the nonprofit has had a college-bound program for years. But the newer trade skills “career-bound” program has been catching on, he said. This year, for example, 84 students in the Harbor Area are signed up, Lansing said, and there’s talk about weaving in an auto tech component through a shop that has operated located at Angels Gate Park.

He often tells the “tale of two brothers” — Lansing went to college but his brother did not — and today is a crane operator for the port.

It’s no secret that many of these trades, because they are in such high demand, also bring high-paying salaries.

Damien Winfrey, a Narbonne High graduate, said the program is needed by many students who don’t have a clear vocational path.

“This program is meaningful to me,” he said, “because I was that student.”

Belen Vargas, L.A. Program director at Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, said it provides young people with exposure to vocational skills and a different pathway for a career. But few L.A. schools offer those classes now, she said.

“In the past 25-30 years,” she said, “essentially these programs have gone away from the schools.”

Some students through the trade programs, she said, find a new passion in life, including many female students who, while still a minority in the Harbor Freight program, are growing in numbers.

“In a class of 20, you may have three or four girls but in the beginning, four years ago, teachers told me it was one or two,” she said. “So we’re making progress.”

Among those speaking at the Friday demonstration event was U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragan, D-San Pedro, who posed for a group shot with the students.

“This day is about the students, and it’s about having options,” she said. “Follow your heart and do what you love.”

For information, visit hftforschools.org.

Program sites

The Smidt Foundation currently has eight program sites across Los Angeles County. They are:

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles Harbor.
• Port of LA High School.
• Alliance for Community Empowerment, in Canoga Park.
• Artesia High School.
• Bridge Housing/Jordan Downs, in Watts.
• California Advancing Pathways for Students (six high schools).
• Da Vinci Schools.
• La Mirada High School.