North Penn High School’s Future Plans Center has done it again, finding post-graduation opportunities for Knights looking to start their careers. 

The Knight Crier has previously covered opportunities offered through Future Plans Center such as the CHIP (Community Hosted Internship Program) and others, but in this installment, we will take a detailed look into the new Pre Apprenticeship Program.

An apprenticeship program is when a company has a state-registered program to certify somebody for a specific job, and once certified they are guaranteed a position at said company. In this program, the company is called Stein Seal, and students look to earn a manufacturing credential throughout their time at Stein Seal.

For some additional context, Stein Seal is local and international manufacturing company.

“They have two branches in Kulpsville and Telford but they also have plants in Czechoslovakia, India, Germany, and China,” Mr. Christopher Frey, advisor of the CHIP program said. “If you have ever been on a plane, the reason your plane didn’t blow up is because of a seal made in Telford. There has never been a space shuttle launched without a seal made here. They make seals for nuclear power plants, submarines, and important manufacturing.”

The Pre Apprenticeship program links Stein Seal “up with high school students [must be 18 years of age] they can do some online preliminary training for it and then ultimately what that does is pretty much guarantees them entry into the apprenticeship program right away,” Frey said. “They’ll get in from day one right after graduation.” 

The key thing to freshly graduated young adults is without a doubt the pay. “Someone in the apprenticeship program starts off at $33/hr and overtime is [$49.50],” Frey said. 

Not only do young adults get the opportunity to gain experience in this field of machinery, but also are getting paid a base salary of around $84k annually and close to $100k with overtime. 

“To give some perspective, a teacher would have to work at North Penn for about 12 years and have a master’s degree to get paid that amount, and these guys have the ability to do that the day after graduation,” Frey continued. “A family-sustaining wage” the day after graduation. 

Once the online training modules are completed, pre-apprentices would enter a four-year program where the earlier mentioned pay has the potential to increase and they also get to earn a certification with a specific skill. The certification Stein Seal offers specifically is called a manufacturing credential. 

This credential can be taken with you anywhere, and with it, you can choose to stay at the company and move up or possibly go to another manufacturing company.

The ideal student for this type of program is someone looking to enter the workforce right away. 

“The three things I hear from companies all the time are that: be on time, learn, and get along with people. You probably need some math skills, and computer programming, and these are things they [Stein Seal] are willing to teach you,” Frey said. 

For most careers, especially straight out of college, you are more likely to start with a base salary lower than you would with this apprenticeship program.

This is a great opportunity for students looking to make money, earn a work credential, and gain some manufacturing industry experience. But what is even more important for high schoolers to understand is that there are options.

“Whether it is ‘I want to go to school’ or ‘I want to go into the workforce’ or a mixture of both. You’ve got tons of options and we want kids to choose the best thing for themselves,” Frey said in closing.