YAP Students Can Earn As They Learn

Learning by the book is fine, but for students in the Youth Apprenticeship Program at area high schools, learning on the job is better.

Both local businesses and Washington and Benton County high school students are benefiting from programs that teach students hands-on skills as they take an early look into what they believe will be their chosen career field.

Fayetteville Public Schools have the largest Youth Apprenticeship Program in Arkansas, and Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville schools are giving their students similar advantages through the International Business Management Apprenticeship Program.

Fayetteville High School West Campus has plans to take its YAP a step further with a Business Academy. That project is in what principal Lee Haight called “the incubator stage,” as the school is applying for state funding from Work Force Education.

“The academy groups business teachers along with academic teachers,” Haight said. “That’s the theme that runs through everything that kids learn. There’s an international business thread to it. You match English, science and history to what you’re learning with a business focus. And you’re learning business finance skills in that career and technical planning.”

Some of the programs currently offered at FHS West Campus include pharmacy, drama, welding, auto collision, hospitality, culinary arts, medical, etc.

“It’s an opportunity for students to get high school credit working in their area of vocational concentration,” Haight said. “It’s a way for them to get paid and trained in the work place. And the employers get a tax credit.”

The International Business program is led by Ron Shertzer, head of the Arkansas department of Work Force Education in Little Rock. Its deputy director is John Davidson, former principle of FHS West Campus.

“The [YAP] has been a very crucial extension of school classes on the high school level,” Davidson said. “We have a number of teachers teaching different skill levels from everything from auto mechanics, metal workers and others. We saw students working their skills at the high school level, but they didn’t have an opportunity to know what it was like to actually work in that industry. This allows them to become responsible in an actual professional setting.”

Springdale High School officials praise the programs — banking and finance, medical and computer information — YAP has offered its students. The program is offered for two years in high school and two more years after high school as the school continues to monitor its former students. Students must apply and qualify for the program.

“Our goal is for [YAP students] to get a college degree,” said Jan Strubing of SHS’ counselor’s office. “Work ethic and attendance are big factors in choosing students. We have very stringent attendance rules.”

Ann Phillips, an RN for Northwest Medical, supervises YAP medical students.

“[YAP] addresses kids that are not ready to go on to college,” Phillips said. “They can use their skills here as a springboard.”

Phillips said there are more than 200 areas of employment in the medical field, and there is a “crisis” in Northwest Arkansas. She said the new Willow Creek women’s hospital in Johnson is looking for people to run ultrasound tests.

“You don’t have to be a 4.0 student to work in these fields,” Phillips said. “You’re gonna be seeing things and doing things in the hospital you would assume only adults would see. But why not see what it’s like in high school. It gives you permission to succeed.”