NM high schoolers take bus tour during National Apprenticeship Week

ALBUQUERQUE — High school students throughout New Mexico took part in the biannual workforce development bus tour which is organized by GEAR UP New Mexico & New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (NMDWS) Dec. 4.

GEAR UP New Mexico is a federally funded program that works with school districts with a large number of rural and first-generation students to increase college and career readiness for 7th to 12th grade students.

The program works in partnership with eight high schools in seven school districts: Albuquerque Talent Development Academy, Bernalillo High School, Capital High School, Española Valley High School, Los Puentes Charter School, Mountainair High School, Socorro High School, and Taos High School.

The students who attended the bus tour learned about New Mexico apprenticeship programs, and other fast-track postsecondary credentialing opportunities.

According to NMDWS, there are more than 58 registered apprenticeship programs across the state.

Throughout the bus tour, students participated in job shadowing and volunteering at Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and the Associated Builders and Contractors of New Mexico. They also received presentations from registered apprenticeship leaders, such as NB3 Los Alamos, and the New Mexico Information Technology Apprenticeship Program at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM).

Finally, students got the opportunity to engage in hands-on experiences with training programs like Assistance Dogs of the West and the CNM Ingenuity Electric Line Worker Pre-Apprenticeship Program.

“We could not have accomplished such a unique tour for the students of GEAR UP New Mexico without the incredible partnership and hours of cross-agency collaborations with the NMDWS Apprenticeship Office,” said GEAR UP New Mexico Regional Coordinator Katherin Hinton. “I look forward to this becoming an annual effort between our two agencies to further increase high school students’ understanding of the wide variety of high-quality and low-cost postsecondary training programs that lead to sustainable living wages and economic mobility.”

Students on the bus tour also tours of the University of New Mexico at Los Alamos and CNM-Rio Rancho campuses.

The U.S. Department of Education renewed funding for the GEAR UP program in 2020 at $31.4 million for the next seven years to support around 7,000 students and their families each year.

“Working with Katherin and the Gear Up New Mexico team to coordinate National Apprenticeship Week tours and activities has been an amazing experience,” said Robyn Trammell, NMDWS Apprenticeship Training Representative. “Our sites and vendors also expressed their appreciation of the Gear Up New Mexico student engagement. Gear Up New Mexico is truly making a positive impact on the youth and communities of New Mexico.”