Graduating apprentices build their future along with ships

When Jerketa Holmes graduated from high school in 2002, she had three college acceptance letters in hand. But college was just too expensive, so she went to work weighing bacon at Gwaltney. A year later, she found out she was pregnant and decided to go back to school.

So she enrolled at Northrop Grumman's Apprentice School, which paid her to take classes and work in the company's Newport News shipyard.

Five years and three children later, Holmes, now 24, has learned to construct a ship's hull, read blueprints and install machinery on a vessel. She graduates from the school today as a dimensional control technician.

The 3 p.m. ceremony at Christopher Newport University officially ends the 194 graduates' tenure as apprentices and begins their careers as professional shipbuilders.

For the past four or five years, they've split their days between the classroom and the shipyard. Like other colleges, the Apprentice School has classes, student organizations, sports teams and a mascot, the Builder. Unlike other college students, the apprentices spend half their time learning hands-on skills in the shipyard and earn a salary and benefits.

"I guess I got the best of all the worlds, playing football and getting paid, but also getting the education," said Josh Baker, 22, who was recruited to play football for the Builders.

Founded in 1919, the Apprentice School immerses its students in the shipbuilding trade. It offers 18 training programs and six advanced programs, turning its students into electricians, machinists, welders and pipefitters qualified to build Navy warships.

A 66-year-old brick and cinder block building perched at the edge of the shipyard houses the school. A long central hallway surrounds students with school and shipyard history.

"It gets them into our culture and gets them to understand that they're part of something that's much bigger than themselves," said Bob Leber, who leads the school as director of education and work-force development for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. "The vessels we build go in harm's way."

The school has seen a dramatic jump in applications over the past few years, said training manager Daniel Brookman, who oversees admissions.

Between 1996 and 2001, the program received about 500 applications a year, he said. Last month alone roughly 580 people applied. One in 11 applicants gets in, he said.

Brookman and Leber attribute the leap to aggressive recruiting and rising higher education costs. Regional unemployment, which reached 5.3 percent in December, may also be contributing.

The heightened interest is good news for the shipyard, which needs to hire about 10,000 workers over the next seven years to replace its aging work force, Leber said.

To train those workers, Northrop Grumman wants to expand the school and replace its aging building.

The Apprentice School "reeks of tradition and history, but... I need a bit more modern facility," Leber said.

The company wants state help to fund the replacement. A bill in the General Assembly would provide up to $50 million in training grants over 10 years if the shipyard meets certain benchmarks, including creating 1,000 jobs and maintaining school enrollment of at least 750 students.

The idea of replacing the Apprentice School's building is not popular with all its students.

"This is closer to the shipyard," said Jamile Donovan, 23, who graduates today as a production planner.

A shiny new facility wouldn't fit in with the shipyard atmosphere, he said.

Apprentice School graduates are not obligated to stay with Northrop Grumman, but many do. Five years after graduation, 80 percent of alumni are still with the company, Leber said.

Through partnerships with local community colleges, 40 percent of the graduating class also will receive associate's degrees today, Leber said. And they'll have an advantage over other college grads.

"I have friends at ODU, and they're worried about student loans and the job hunt," Donovan said. "That's something we don't have to worry about."

But shipbuilding can be hard, dangerous work. The apprentices learned that lesson first-hand when classmate Charles Short, a 23-year-old apprentice electrician, died in August 2004 in a shipyard accident.

"He was one of us," Donovan said. "It makes you open your eyes a little bit."

The pay helps. Apprentices start out making about $28,000 a year and can bring home about $48,000 a year by graduation, Brookman said.

"You're not always happy in your job," Baker said. But experiences like riding aboard the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush during its sea trials make up for that, he said.

"It gives you a good sense of pride," he said. "That makes it all worthwhile."

For Holmes, the Apprentice School made it possible to support herself and her children while earning an education.

"It would not have been possible for me to go to school and work," she said. Graduation is "going to make me cry."

Kathy Adams, (757) 446-2583, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com