Trinity collaboration helping students land jobs after high school
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Trinity High School junior Ryder Stickovich maneuvers an excavator at Murphy Family Inc., while Trinity graduate and Murphy Inc. employee Parker Siegman, middle, and employee Austin Farabee provide instruction. Stickovich visited Murphy as part of a Trinity High School program that connects students and local businesses.
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Murphy Family Inc., which participates in a partnership with Trinity High School that provides hands-on field trips at local businesses that can result in part-time and full-time job opportunities for students, hosted a field trip on Tuesday. Attending, from left, were Parker Siegman, an employee at Murphy Inc.; Paul Murphy of Murphy Inc.; senior Troy Woodhouse; Dave Hapchuk of Hapchuk Inc.; senior Trenton Seaman; and Jared Williams of Hill International. Woodhouse and Seaman have accepted full-time employment offers.
By Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Paul Murphy, co-owner of Murphy Family Inc., speaks with students from Trinity High School during a Tuesday field trip, where students toured the family-owned business and got to operate some of the heavy machinery.
Late Tuesday morning on a concrete pad behind Murphy Family Inc. in Washington, Ryder Stickovich, a junior at Trinity High School who is enrolled in the engine mechanics program, sat behind the controls of a Kubota excavator, where he practiced picking up tires and placing them onto an orange cone.
Instructing him on how to maneuver the equipment was 2021 Trinity High School graduate Parker Siegman, who works part time at Murphy while attending college, where he is a mechanical engineering major.
Stickovich was one of 24 students in the engine mechanics program who visited Murphy Inc. as part of a partnership between Trinity and local businesses, including Murphy Inc., where the students receive on-site, hands-on learning experiences and information about career opportunities and training. In many cases, they are offered part-time and full-time jobs.
The businesses that belong to the partnership are Murphy Inc., Hapchuk Inc., Hill International, and Log Cabin Fence Co.
Siegman has been working at Murphy Inc. for more than two years, after he was hired following the field trip.
“This program is so important. It has a lot to offer,” said Siegman. “The teachers do a phenomenal job to push us to achieve, and the companies are awesome for partnering.”
Two of the students who participate in the engine mechanics program and attended the field trip to Murphy Inc., seniors Troy Woodhouse and Trenton Seaman, already have landed full-time jobs at Hapchuk Inc. and Hill International Inc., respectively.
“They’ll earn good salaries and benefits, and they don’t have any college debt to worry about,” said Trinity High School business and technology education teacher Ryan Coyle.
It’s a win-win program, says Paul Murphy, co-owner of Murphy Family Inc.
“I get a couple of guys here, for as long as I can keep them. I train them and I can bring them back each summer,” said Murphy.
In return, the students gain job experience – at Murphy, they can work in sales, parts, and other departments – and exposure to a potential career.
Dave Hapchuk, owner of Hapchuk Inc., was instrumental in launching the program four years ago, along with Coyle and high school gifted support teacher and agriculture educator Jeannette Hartley.
“I started thinking about what can we do, along the lines of a field trip day, at different businesses to promote the fact that there are jobs out there that these kids can make a good living at, with a high school diploma,” said Hapchuk.
At the same time, the engine mechanics program – part of Trinity High School’s popular vocational agricultural program – was morphing from one class, a small gas engine course, into its current program, which now includes an introduction to engine mechanics course and an agricultural engine and machinery systems course. Next year, diesel engineering will be added.
The engine mechanics program has grown from 12 students in 2018 to its current 80 students.
Coyle credits Hartley with building partnerships with the local businesses to help the program grow.
“The plan is to give students a well-rounded skill set, where if they have a passion for any type of engine mechanics they can pursue it and it will prepare them for their next step, whether they plan on technical school or making it a career, or pursuing this as a hobby,” said Coyle.
Seaman began working at Hill International Trucks as a part-time technician apprentice after a field trip in October.
Jared Williams, general manager of Hill International, recently offered Seaman a full-time job.
Seaman is relieved that he has a plan for the future.
“This made it very easy. I have everything figured out instead of not knowing what I’m doing or where I’m going after high school,” he said.
In September, Hill International is sending Seaman to a two-week training session at Navistar Headquarters outside of Chicago, Ill., part of a yearlong training program.
“We have multiple Trinity students we’ve hired that we met through this program,” said Williams. “Trenton showed a lot of passion and excitement for our industry. He’s a great kid with a great attitude. He wants to learn; he’s willing to work hard and educate himself to be as successful as he possibly can. I like to think we found him, but he found us, too, in terms of having a passion and a commitment to this type of work and this type of industry.”
Williams said his company recognized about 10 years ago that “there were not a lot of individuals looking at trades as a possible career opportunity.”
Hill International representatives started attending career days and assemblies, but it wasn’t impactful.
“Teaming up with Trinity to essentially do more on-site, hands-on work, and letting the kids see what it’s like to work with equipment and heavy trucks is great because that’s where the kids get the best understanding,” said Williams.
At Hapchuk Inc., three former Trinity students who went through the program are now employed full time, and Hapchuk helped them obtain CDL permits to drive their trucks.
“I tell them, the more you learn, the more valuable you are to the company,” said Hapchuk. “This is a great program, and I give these teachers a lot of credit for doing this, and encouraging these students to come to these classes.”
Hapchuk will host an on-site tour for all 80 students in the program the first week of May.
In addition to introducing students to the company and providing employment, Hapchuk Inc. teaches them how to write resumes, how to fill out job applications, and how to prepare for a successful job interview.
Woodhouse has been working for Hapchuk Inc. for about 10 months, and is looking forward to his full-time employment there.
Already, he has attended a training class in eastern Pennsylvania where he learned to install septic systems, and accompanied Hapchuk and other employees to a trade show in Indianapolis.
“I was never a great student, I never got A-pluses. I could never keep a focus in school, but I could always keep my focus when I worked with my hands; that’s what I like to do. And Dave gave me an opportunity to do that for a career,” said Woodhouse.
“He’s helped me a lot, and I’m learning new things in this industry, including a lot of plumbing. I’m enjoying this, and I’d like to keep this job for a long time.”