As most maintenance and engineering managers understand all too well, the institutional and commercial facilities face a growing shortage of skilled trade workers. Managers for years have looked in every imaginable place and used every available resource to find entry-level technicians to join their departments as retirement-age workers leave the profession.
One facilities department is addressing the need for technicians by creating a path for high-school students to join the profession. The Florida State University facilities department has launched a work-based learning program for local high school students.
The program, Pathway to Success, provides hands-on experience and a resource for the potential employment of student trainees upon completing the program and graduation. Students from Wakulla High School in Crawfordville, Florida, are the first to participate in the study-related work experience, which aims to equip students with fundamental technical and job readiness skills to work in a registered apprenticeship program.
Working under a senior technician, students learn how to troubleshoot various systems on campus, primarily related to HVAC. Students also will learn the fundamentals of repair and replacement for variable-speed drives, machine-specific controllers, air compressor controls, boiler controls, heat exchangers, fume hoods, lab controls and chiller controls. While employed at FSU through Pathways to Success, the Wakulla students simultaneously earn credit toward their academic trade program.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
