<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Snohomish County Business Journal/JOHN WOLCOTT Steve Burch is director of Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center. (click to enlarge) Photo courtesy of Tom Clemans, Sno-Isle Tech precision-machining instructor Brian Harbeck, a Snohomish High School senior, won gold medals in 2007 and 2008 at the state Skills USA competition. In June, the Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center student will represent Washington state at the national event for the second time.

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CONTACT SCBJ John Wolcott, Editor jwolcott@scbj.com Dave Clark, Assistant Editor dclark@scbj.com

Life careers begin here

Tomorrow’s technicians, builders, robotics experts training at Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center today

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

High school juniors and seniors at Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center in Everett are getting an early start on their career paths as they learn to build Web sites, create computer networks, develop robotic cars, suit up in fire-fighting gear or master cosmetology skills.

Offering both one- and two-year programs, the skills center is housed at nine-building high school campus between the Boeing Co.’s aircraft assembly plant and Paine Field’s business park. Many of its courses offer combined college and high school credits. The skills center experience also provides clear answers to students’ puzzled questions about why they have to learn math, reading, writing and other basic skills in school.

Last fall, for example, students who replaced a car’s gasoline engine with a biodiesel engine to learn about energy efficiencies found the entire project was a huge mathematics problem. Showing them practical applications for math in ways that helped them explore their passion for cars and engines made math more attractive to them.

Students come to the center from 42 high schools in 14 school districts in Snohomish and Island counties. They can sign up for classes as diverse as welding and metal fabrication, precision machining, diesel mechanics, becoming an auto technician or learning a variety of trades to prepare for paid apprenticeships in the construction industry.

Students also can come from private high schools or home schools, as well as anyone 16 to 20 who has not earned a high school diploma or those who have earned their GED certificate. Applications are submitted each spring for fall classes. Students are transported to the center on district school buses for either morning or afternoon sessions.

There are free summer school programs at the center, too, paid for by special funding from the Legislature, including cosmetology, DigiPen introduction for video gaming, flower shop and florist design, sports medicine, modeling and personal development, and Web page design. Several off-campus classes are provided at area high schools for subjects such as video production, computer applications, career choices, marketing and Web page design.

Overall, students can choose from 19 courses in five broad occupational pathway programs at the skills center, including trades and industry; information technology; business, marketing and management; human services; or science and health.

For other aptitudes and inclinations, courses in the medical field include medical or dental assistants, nursing or veterinary assistants. There are rooms filled with computer-aided drafting and design equipment and other classrooms for learning business and management, cosmetology, fashion and merchandising. A culinary arts program teaches students how to prepare and serve meals in Sno-Isle Tech’s Le Bistro kitchen and restaurant, which is open to the public for midday dining.

“We’ve got a great bunch of kids here, some with 4.0 academic scores, some who may have a 0.4, but all of them are here only because they want to be, because they’ve found a program that excites them and makes them think about future careers,” said Steve Burch, a former Sunnyside assistant principal and business owner who has been director of the center for the past decade. “This isn’t a vocational school for kids who can’t make it academically. It’s just the opposite. It’s to get kids ready at the high school level to prepare for their future.”

Sno-Isle, operated by the Mukilteo School District, is the largest of 10 skills centers in Washington state. Soon, it will be even larger. Preparation for the $26 million construction of additional buildings by 2010 will enable the facility to offer space to 1,200 students instead of the present capacity of 1,000. The facility is dedicated to preparing students for entry-level jobs after graduation from high school. Courses are taught by a staff of experienced instructors who offer learning opportunities in a real-world setting.

Attendance dropped this year to around 850 students because extra school time being spent on preparing for high school WASL tests made it impossible for some students to attend the skills center. Ironically, the center’s programs help students meet or exceed WASL requirements for math, reading and writing because students see practical reasons in their skills center environment for learning those academic skills, Burch said.

“The expansion will give us more space and modernize our facilities. We’ll add more shop and classroom area and have new classes, including auto-body collision repair, HVAC system, low-voltage electrical applications used by small businesses and a program for aircraft service technicians,” he said. “Also, we’ll have some type of environmental sciences program and more advanced cosmetology courses and security video and control systems. Laboratories and green houses will be added for sciences programs.”

Construction work will be in three phases. It will be the first upgrade and expansion of the center since it opened in 1978.

Most of the graduates from the skills center go on to community colleges, he said, or schools such as Lake Washington Technical College. Some students have won college scholarships for the University of Washington, Washington State University and community or technical colleges. Burch sees the potential presence of a four-year technical college in Snohomish County as a catalyst for more skills center enrollment and growth.

Skills centers are becoming even more important in the state, Burch said, noting that three to five new ones will be added soon, including one in the Skagit Valley.

“We can’t forget that our society needs people who can build bridges and fix things. Hopefully, the classes and technologies we offer here will help students get an earlier start on their careers. Right now, a lot of students leave high school and take 10 years to figure out what they want to do with their lives. We think we’re helping to get them going sooner on their right path,” Burch said.

For more information, go online to www.snoisletech.com