Oct 25, 2017 4 min read

HOUSTON – A four-hour career expo Tuesday at Western Area Career and Technology Center dedicated to manufacturing and energy careers left little doubt opportunities abound in the two sectors.

About 500 high school students from Washington, Greene and Beaver counties attended the 2017 Energy & Manufacturing Youth Career Expo, getting the chance to talk with representatives from nearly 50 area trade schools, manufacturers such as All-Clad Metalcrafters and Ensinger, and energy companies such as Range Resources, EQT and Columbia Gas.

The event, which was sponsored by Southwest Corner Workforce Development Board and Southwest Training Services Inc., as well as Range, the Tri-County Oil & Gas Expo, Energy Transfer and Washington County Manufacturers Association, was spread across the WACTC campus, and included demonstrations in the school’s welding and machining areas as well as two mobile units dedicated to energy in the region.

WACTC Executive Director Dennis McCarthy said the expo comes at a critical time in the region’s buildout of its energy assets in natural gas, which is being led by the beginning of construction of Shell’s ethane cracker plant. The $6 billion project is expected to draw more plastics and petrochemical manufacturing jobs to the area.

“I think the kids are seeing that there are some exceptional opportunities out there,” McCarthy said, adding events like Tuesday’s expo create “a perfect match” between employers, technical schools and union apprenticeship programs and students who are considering careers in those areas.

In the main exhibit area, Ron Stefaniak, apprenticeship coordinator for Cement Masons Local 526, held the attention of three young women, all juniors from Washington County high schools who are enrolled in WACTC’s masonry program, as he described the work masons do in a wide variety of commercial and industrial settings.

“If you have the passion and the attitude, we can make this happen for you,” Stefaniak said as he described the union’s free apprenticeship program that pays $17.71 an hour in the first year, as well as health-care benefits and a pension.

That was good news to Kacey Stewart, a Trinity High School junior and one of three WACTC masonry students who listened to his pitch.

Stewart said the fact the apprenticeship is offered at no cost “and that they have women actively working” in the field were good reasons for her decision to apply next year for an apprenticeship.

Stefaniak said later he currently has five women out of 600 members in the local. He noted the masons union, like nearly all of the 15 other construction trade unions in the Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania, have greatly increased the number of apprenticeships because of the magnitude of the Shell cracker project, which the company has said will require thousands of skilled workers over the next few years.

“We’re aggressively recruiting young ladies all through the building trades. We all had to gear up our apprenticeships,” he said, adding in normal times, his union would have around 15 people in the training program, but because of the Shell project, “I’ve got 61 apprenticeships.”

Tuesday’s program also was attended by Judd Pittman, special consultant to the state secretary of education for STEM education, or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Like McCarthy and Stefaniak, Pittman said the state, led by support from Gov. Tom Wolf, wants to make students aware of the many workforce opportunities that can provide family-sustaining jobs with training that doesn’t require a four-year degree.

He said students who receive from 12 to 18 months of training after high school can be hired for jobs paying between $40,000 and $50,000 per year.

“A lot of people don’t realize that 50 percent of STEM jobs requires a two-year-degree,” he said.