By Chris Butler | Louisiana Watchdog
Baton Rouge resident Courtland Benedict said going to school, traditionally involving students sitting in desks all day, always came hard to him.
Benedict, an 18-year-old high school senior, told Louisiana Watchdog he does better standing up, working with his hands.
In Benedict’s case that means learning about welding.
Courtland Benedict hard at work welding.
Now, a new Louisiana school choice initiative gives him the chance to pursue his true calling.
“Take speech, for an example, my freshman year,” Benedict said. “I’m not the kind of person comfortable standing in front of a classroom and talking to people. I’m not a businessman. I couldn’t do that stuff. But what I’m doing now really fits me.”
The program, under the tutelage of the Pelican Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, based in Baton Rouge, is well into its second year.
If Benedict, a member of the inaugural class, was born only a year earlier he would have missed this opportunity in high school and said he surely would have felt lost.
“I would probably eventually become a welder, but I wouldn’t be as far as I am in my welding today,” Benedict said.
“I would probably graduate in May and then go into the construction industry as a helper and then work my way up. But now that I’m getting out of school I can make top dollar as a welder. I could have come out of school making $12 an hour and now I’m coming out of school making $36 an hour.”
Matthew Campbell, ABC’s director of workforce development, said high school grads who get an early jump in high school with welding can make a six-figure salary.
“These are four- or five-star jobs which are in the highest demand now. There’s no slowing down in the demand over the next decade,” Campbell said of this particular school choice program.
That’s especially important considering a good portion of Louisiana kids who attend a state college are known to take jobs out-of-state once they graduate.
Matthew Campbell
But that’s not likely to happen with future welders and electricians in the ABC program, Campbell said.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t supposed to be in college who don’t do well their freshmen year. They were pushed there through the school system because that’s the way everything was,” Campbell said. “Now we are seeing a rebuilding of these types of careers because there are more choices.”
A Louisiana Department of Education press release says welding is one of the most popular courses under the Course Choice program.
Contact Christopher Butler at cbutler@watchdog.org
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