Tools Of The Trade Prepares Local High Schoolers For Skilled Trade Careers

A graduation ceremony was recently held for 11 high school students who completed the Tools of the Trade program hosted by After School Matters and ComEd. Photo Credit: Provided by ComEd
A graduation ceremony was recently held for 11 high school students who completed the Tools of the Trade program hosted by After School Matters and ComEd. Photo Credit: Provided by ComEd

Tools Of The Trade Prepares Local High Schoolers For Skilled Trade Careers

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

A graduation ceremony was recently held for 11 students who successfully completed a seven-week paid apprenticeship known as the Tools of the Trade program. Tools of the Trade is collaboratively hosted by After School Matters and ComEd to prepare young people, ages 16 to 18, for trade careers.

The program is open to students across Chicago and provides them with an opportunity to get hands-on experience and learn real-world skills that can lead them to successful careers as tradespeople. During the seven-weeks, students observe ComEd employees as they work in various capacities throughout the company and are taught basic energy industry concepts, according to information provided by ComEd.

“We have a tremendous number of really good paying lifelong-type jobs that you don’t need to go to college for but you do need to have some physical skills and some mechanical aptitude. Our overhead work, our underground work, our transmission work all have a tremendous number of jobs that require those types of skills and we’re not seeing as much of a workforce there as we’d like to,” said Mark Falcone, vice president of support services at ComEd.

ComEd has a well-known history of investing in programs that expose young people to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) with a big focus on college-based career paths but Tools of the Trade was created to expose young people to sustainable career paths that do not require a college degree.

“We really want to run this program as a way to highlight those jobs that are out there and not just at ComEd. There are lots of good jobs, whether you look at plumbers, pipe-fitters, or carpenters, and they’re all looking for the same skill set,” said Falcone. “If we can open up the eyes of some high school students, hopefully, they will tell their friends and get this career path to be a little bit more popular and that would be a success for us.”

Not only is this program impactful for students, the ComEd employees also enjoy getting to talk with young people about their careers and show them what they do on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s really cool to see the ComEd folks get involved with the kids and hear about how they’ve enjoyed it. They really get into teaching them something and trying to impart a little bit of their knowledge to them. They get a real kick out of it and they get a lot of satisfaction out of it to know that they’ve perhaps helped a kid right at the very beginning of their entry into a workforce,” said Falcone.

Recruitment for the Tools of the Trade class of 2020 will begin in January. For more information about Tools of the Trade, contact ExternalPrograms@ComEd.com.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.