Reach Cyber partners with carpenters' union to offer online carpentry program

In recent years, school districts have made a stronger push to gauge student interest in trade careers, extolling the virtues of the region’s technical schools and the wide-open job market for skilled laborers.

In Pennsylvania, one cyber charter school is looking to add some of those elements to its curriculum.

Harrisburg-based Reach Cyber Charter School, which serves students across the state, has partnered with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and New Jersey-based Maplewoodshop to create a carpentry career-track program that will be available to students beginning in January.

“We’ve been able to create an exciting opportunity and experience for students to gain skills in an essential trade, earn credit for their mastery and get a jump start on their career through apprenticeship opportunities,” said JD Smith, director for Reach’s Career Pathways Program.

Mike Schloff, founder of Maplewoodshop, developed a workbench that can sit atop a table or desk and allow students to learn woodworking in a much more portable way.

“We were brought in by the carpenters’ union to help Reach develop the program,” Schloff said. “And they’re doing it in a geographically dispersed way, which opens the door for them to serve as a supplier to other schools.”

Schloff said that by engaging students early, “we can provide a pipeline to the carpenters’ union, working with kids as young as elementary school to show them how things like math and science can apply in a real-world way.”

Maplewoodshop’s portable workbench is only equipped with hand tools, “which is important because it means teachers don’t have to have all of the additional certifications,” Schloff said. “We manufacture the benches and tool chest in New Jersey, and we have a curriculum that can be brought into the classroom.”

Wyatt Anderson, a recent Reach hire who will lead the carpentry program, said he is excited to bring students beyond tests and textbooks.

“Trades such as carpentry allow individuals to explore and advance their intelligence and education through hands-on experience,” Anderson said.

Smith said Reach officials eventually plan to invite other high schools to enroll students in the online carpentry course, which is the first of its kind in the country for a cyber high school.

“There are so many career paths available, and at Reach Cyber, we are providing the foundation for our students to go forth and explore many of those options while still in high school,” Smith said.

For details, visit ReachCyberCharter.com.