MT Magazine May/June 2023

FEATURE STORY

MAY/JUNE 2023

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Say you’re a junior or senior at Draughn High, East Burke, or one of the other high schools in Burke County, North Carolina. Say you’re pretty good at basketball or another sport. Maybe not great, but good. And you see on social media young women and men who seem just like you being lauded for declaring for a college. You’re going to feel envious. Childers says that when they make the final decision on the next class of apprentices, it isn’t simply a matter of sending an email or making a phone call. Silver points out that when a student athlete achieves something, the local papers acknowledge it. So Childers, Silver, and the people with whom they work internally and externally hold a signing ceremony. They make sure that those who have achieved the opportunity get public acknowledgment for it. The people who are accepted into the program are likely to see their names in The McDowell News or the Morganton News Herald. Not only is this good for the young people who have been accepted, but it is good for the younger people in the area who may hear about the Continental program through the signings. Silver says that there is an emphasis at the plant to get young people – ninth graders, for example – to tour the facility. And Childers notes that they even

so when they are not in class, they are accumulating 24 hours in the plant. And the thing that is initially quite surprising to the people in the program – and their parents – is that there is a paycheck for 40 hours. Getting There Silver says that each year in February, he and Childers visit local high schools to talk to students and teachers. He acknowledges something that plenty of people don’t want to admit: a four year degree isn’t right for everyone. There are some people who are good with their hands and like working that way. In March they bring in students for tours of the Morganton facility. And, importantly, they ask teachers to take the tour as well. Those who express an interest participate in a weeklong orientation program in April. Then Childers and Silver look through the documentation they’ve accumulated through these preliminaries to determine who will be asked to participate in a six-week internship program that occurs in June and July. Based on that, they decide who will be asked to join the apprenticeship program at Continental. While a lot of that may sound familiar – after all, there are plenty of companies of varying types that have apprenticeship programs at their organizations – there is something that makes what is happening at Continental Morganton somewhat different. A Difference Duke. The University of North Carolina. NC State. Wake Forest. One of the things that the state of North Carolina is renowned for is college basketball, and to say that being recruited out of high school to play college ball is a big deal is to understate the case.

hear from parents who want to know about the availability of openings in the program. It isn’t enough for an organization to think what it is doing is special – the people must make sure that others see that it really is special.