Education for All: Meeting the needs of skiled trade professions is a team effort

Several years ago I was invited to see the advanced manufacturing facility at Rock Valley High School in northern Sioux County, Iowa. The superintendent, Chad Janzen, provided my tour, and wow! I saw a remarkable collaboration among the local school district, local businesses, the community college, and the local community at large. Chad arrived in Rock Valley as a brand new superintendent in 2014. He was approached by a local businessman, Cal DeRuyter, of Siouxland Machine, who related that he thought kids needed real-life learning; he couldn’t find enough skilled employees, but there are all kinds of insurance issues related to internships with high school students in a manufacturing plant. He thought if they could learn some of the necessary hard skills like welding, fabrication, design, and others, as well as soft skills like filling out applications for a job, getting to work on time, listening and sharing ideas well, seeing a project through to the end,  and more that everyone would benefit. It appears that Mr. DeRuyter was spot on.

A business was established at RVHS called Rocket Manufacturing. The resources to get it started came from the school district, local businesses, and the community college. When I was there it was up and running and the students were busy making community signs, and later completed a huge order for 250 custom-made livestock gates, among other things. Various students had various jobs: a business manager, HR director, welders, tool and die makers, and more. Students who wanted to participate had to fill out an application and interview with the superintendent, Mr. DeRuyter, and the two teacher coordinators of the program. There were more applications than spots available, so that process was very competitive. The district had to make sure the Rocket Manufacturing was self-sustaining, which meant while they would have liked to have included more students, that would have meant more materials, machines, etc. and they couldn’t afford that without their business growing. Businesses donated quite valuable and necessary machines and computer systems to help the program succeed. If a local business needed a product from Rocket Manufacturing, they would explain what they wanted. Rocket Manufacturing would do all the creative and design work, estimate the materials needed and the cost of the whole project, and if the business wanted what they proposed, Rocket Manufacturing would proceed with the manufacturing and be paid for their work.

I was quite interested in the career paths of those who had made it into the program. Some went right into the workforce, many at the local businesses who supported and continue to support the program. Some went to community college to learn even more about the skilled trade they had begun to learn at Rocket Manufacturing. Some went on to Iowa State or another university for a degree in engineering. I appreciated the multiple career paths students chose – Rocket Manufacturing supported them all.

The Iowa Department of Education notes, “Advanced manufacturing accounts for almost 90 percent of Iowa’s exports and contributes $29 billion to the state’s economy, with over 30 percent of Iowa’s counties classified as “manufacturing dependent.” (According to Data USA using multiple data sets from the federal and state governments, the largest industry in Adair County in 2019 was manufacturing.)…Work-based learning is one strategy that can increase this supply (of needed labor) by successfully integrating academics with real-world, hands-on learning. Students can more easily see the connection between academics and careers when they are engaged in learning with a curriculum that is personally and occupationally relevant.”

There is a need in Iowa, and in Adair County, for many skilled trade positions, like plumbers, electricians, and more, but it takes businesses, the community, most likely the Community College, the Area Education Agency, and the local school district working together to make it happen. Rock Valley did it with many resources from outside of their regular funding stream and it is likely the case that would be the need in Nodaway Valley as well.