Joan Siewe, a CNX Resources Corporation senior engineer, helps high school senior Jocelyn Williams update her LinkedIn page while discussing the importance of a positive online presence.
(Shannon Venditti / for the Washington Examiner)
Zion Buford has seen up close more people working with their hands in the trades in the past few months than most adults ever come in contact with in their lifetime. From carpenters to electricians to plumbers to heating and air conditioner installers, if their job makes your day better, faster, warmer, cooler, safer, or run on time, she has seen them in action.
Buford, a 17-year-old senior at Moon Area High School, said her favorites are the welders “because one of the ladies at the trade school built her own fireplaces — she was a real artist with her craft — which was something I really appreciated."
(Shannon Venditty / for the Washington Examiner)
“My eyes have also really been opened," said Buford, "to all of the opportunities there are out there to walk out of high school or a trade school with little to no debt and be able to get a job where [I] could comfortably support myself.”
Buford — along with 11 other students in Western Pennsylvania, six from a rural high school and six from an urban high school — has had this exposure thanks to a foundation started by CNX Resources Corporation. CNX, one of the largest independent natural gas exploration and shale production companies, quietly began a mentoring academy at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year for disadvantaged young people to help them fully realize their potential and see the chance for upward mobility to which they never knew they had access.
The overall objective is to take these students from a place of no post-high school direction to a path of prosperity by exposing them to opportunities in the trades — and then ensure that they secure a job or an apprenticeship by the time they graduate. The benefits are significant when there is a massive skill gap in our current workforce. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that there are 6.5 million unemployed people in the United States despite there being 11 million job openings.
In short, we don’t prepare our young people for the well-paying jobs that are not only available but also are desperately needed to keep our economy going. This program does that for the young people who need it most.
DeIuliis said he donated $1 million from his compensation package last year to fund the program's startup and first-year costs, with none of the students paying anything — including enrollment in trade schools.
“We saw this big demographic of individuals coming out of high school that don't want to go to college or can't afford to go to college," DeIullis explained. "They are bright, show up for school, have abilities and potential, and yet everyone in society — whether it is the education system, businesses, media, and culture — have already determined that if you don’t go to college, you are a failure.”
(Shannon Venditti / for the Washington Examiner)
He says that impression is wrong. The types of jobs the students are exposed to are actually careers — professions that pay total compensation packages, which, when you count in the benefits, add up to six-figure salaries. There are also opportunities in a paid apprenticeship that allow you to earn money as you learn on the job. Department of Labor statistics show that 92% of apprentices who complete their program go on to start with an average annual salary of $72,000.
DeIuliis said his plan is for every young person who walks into the academy to walk out with a career in the trades. He said he has made sure this isn’t a one-off program.
“Instead, it is funded into perpetuity," he said, "so that we continue to give back to the community through these young people."
Buford said she was stunned to meet young people not much older than her who are working in the different trades and making six-figure salaries.
Last Friday, the lobby of CNX headquarters was a beehive of activity as all the students carried out a variety of preparatory tasks assigned to them that day as part of the mentoring academy.
Buford and several of the other students were walking back and forth trying on different suits and shoes and checking out briefcases provided to them by Dress for Success to prepare for their first interviews. Others were receiving help preparing their resumes and LinkedIn profiles, where they were able to add the CEOs of several companies they had met in the past year as future references.
(Shannon Venditty / for the Washington Examiner)
Each one of them, without fail, kept in touch with their individual mentors, who have backgrounds just like them — an integral part of what DeIuliis says is the key to the program's success.
Standing in the center of the swirl of the young people are Audric Dodds and Jamal Woodson — both black, which bucks the stereotype of what the American public thinks most energy workers look like. Woodson is an urban radio station executive and entrepreneur who signed up with CSX to mentor young people who are looking for men who look just like them to show them that they, too, can be successful given the opportunity.
(Shannon Venditti / for the Washington Examiner)
Dodds, who is the director of community relations and strategic partnerships for CNX, said the goal of the program is to identify these young people that the whole system has written off and show them the opportunities.
“We want to spark that interest in them across all different industries — from electrical to carpentry to natural gas," said Dodds. "We took them up to PPG [Paints Arena] and showed them what it takes to run it, and we will do whatever it takes from picking them up from their housing to taking them to the job to paying for their classes to help them get the skills they need to be successful.”
“These are the forgotten kids from the forgotten schools in the forgotten towns in this country,” he added. “It is on us as an industry to show them that doesn’t have to be their destiny."
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