Last October, Rite Aid closed its door in St. Johnsbury, leaving a big, shuttered building right in the middle of town. After intense organizing, the community raised enough money and support to build the new Caledonia Food Co-Op, which is slated to open in July.
Part of the team making this project possible is the career and technical education program at St Johnsbury Academy. CTE students are doing a significant portion of the plumbing and electrical work for the new co-op under the supervision of their teachers, who are also masters in their trades.
Erica Heilmann went up to talk with some of the kids about this hands-on education, and also talk with the head of the Academy's electrical program, Jeremy Roberts.
This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.
Erica Heilman: So what are you guys doing here? What's happening now?
Paxton Hosmer: We are running vent pipes for a three bay sink for what is now going to be the kitchen. Currently, we're drilling through the studs so we can run the pipe over and up, then run the pipe all the way down, connect the other vent pipes.
Erica Heilman: What do people not understand about this kind of learning?
Jeremy Roberts: I think that a school that doesn't have a CTE or other programs isn't going to reach every student they have, because not every student is the same and fits into that mold. And our job as educators is to find that pathway for that student or child. It's finding the reason a student comes to school every day.
There are students that come to school for math, science, English language. There's other students that just want to get through high school with a skill or just for some direction. And that's why I come to work every day, because there's a lot of students like that. And I think we miss that, looking at schools. Sometimes it's the connections. Some of these kids would never graduate if they didn't have a connection with an adult.
Meredith Roy: I was a sophomore, so I must have been 15 at the time. So you're starting to figure stuff out. And this was just a very good thing for me, because I'm always like, "I need to be doing something," moving. Just the thought of playing with live electricity after turning the switch on and seeing a light bulb light up was lighting up my heart. I was like, "this is awesome."
Landon Maskell: I'm a visual learner. If I can do it myself, watch someone do it and then try and do it myself, I'm much better at it that way, rather than someone preaching to me how to do something. I've never done great in English or any type of class like that. I like to learn, but compared to plumbing — I mean, I really love it. I enjoy what I do, so it's a lot easier for me to do.
Erica Heilman: Do you think that you are a grown up in a way that you wouldn't otherwise be given what you're doing?
Ryan Richard: Yea, working six days a week. Taking an electrical class at one school, going to another school to finish up credits. Go home, eat. Do homework. Go to bed. I feel like that's not very far off from an adult schedule.
Erica Heilman: You didn't want to be a kid longer?
Ryan Richard: Well, now I have adult money that I can buy big kid stuff with.
Erica Heilman: Like snowmobiles?
Ryan Richard: Oh yeah, parts for them. Trucks.
Kaleb Crown: Most of us been around, I guess you could say, a blue collar industry or a trade industry, so working isn't a new task. To work with your hands and be, not necessarily outside, but really just to work with your hands. That's what a lot of people's parents have done to make a living around here, especially if you don't go to college.
Evan Whitehead: The only thing that's really stopping me is if I get hurt. But other than that, you can go until however old, until your body stops.
Kaleb Crown: My boss is 62 years old, and he still cuts grass in the summertime full time like anybody else would. And he said he's not going to stop till the day he drops dead.
Erica Heilman: What's it going to be like walking into that co-op when it's done?
Eva Hovey: Thank gosh. When it's done, I think it'll be really nice to see. Especially when they put everything up, like the fridges and the freezers and the shelves that they need. Seeing it all completed, it'll be really nice. When I look at something that I've put a lot of work into, I see it as kind of a reward, because, to me, it's really pretty. Seeing how organized it can be, and organizing above the panel. Just the little stuff, like making it really, really tidy and neat, and being something you could be proud of.
Jeremy Roberts: I mean, we're pretty rural here in the Northeast Kingdom, and we don't have the large factories. We're not really near a city where the higher paying jobs might be, so that's where the trades come in. People still need lights on. People still need their plumbing worked on.
I think the students that want to stay in the area struggle with — I mean, they'll get jobs that just will never pay any more than above minimum wage. And they'll be able to survive, but they won't be able to make a good living. If these students have a career path once they graduate, they're more apt to stay in the area because they have jobs in the area already. And that's where it's at.
Erica Heilman: Okay, five years from now, 10 years, I don't know, whatever, sometime from now, where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? What does it look like?
David Evans: Well, hopefully I'll be rolling around the Northeast Kingdom in a GMC Denali L5P DuraMax. With, I don't know, a kid in the back seat, with my wife, going up to my nice farmhouse. Belly is full, happy, confident with life.
Erica Heilman: And what are you doing for work?
David Evans: I'm an electrician.
