GORHAM, Maine — The calendars may only have just hit mid-August, but learning is already well underway at the Gorham Municipal Center.
Tuesday afternoon, dozens of people of different ages and backgrounds gathered on the second floor, getting ready to serve as apprentices in Cumberland County and York County schools.
These students with Southern Maine Community College and the University of Southern Maine are taking part in the Gorham Educator Apprentice Program. It's an initiative that Washington County Community College and the Gorham School District launched last year, with the goal of helping people to earn as they learn, eventually becoming certified Education Technicians II.
"I'm hopefully going to have my associate's [degree] after this 18-month-long program," Meghan Trask, an 18-year-old from Limington who's enrolled at SMCC, said.
Trask said for a time, she wasn't sure she'd even go to college. She said she "fell out of love" with high school, largely because of the pandemic. When she found out about the apprenticeship opportunity, though, she knew she couldn't turn it down.
"It doesn't take up all my time," Trask said, noting she takes classes for three hours every Monday and then will be working at the Buxton Center Elementary School with a teaching mentor Monday through Friday, starting this fall. "I can work through it. That was a big plus for me because I need to be able to work and go to school at the same time."
Trask said now, she has a clearer idea of what she wants her future to look like, career-wise.
"I want to go for my teaching degree," Trask said. "It has taken me a while to get to this point where I finally know what I want to do."
For Hailey Sheppard, that passion was a bit immediately clearer. She was attending a four-year college in Massachusetts to study education, but she had to drop out when her mother died. Sheppard said her grandmother, who's also a teacher, told her about the opportunity.
"I was, like, super stoked," Sheppard said. "I was like, ‘I can’t get in here fast enough.’"
Sheppard said this fall, she'll be assigned as an apprentice at a school she went to as a kid.
"I know the whole layout. I know a few teachers who already said they’re going to be checking in on me," Sheppard said.
On Tuesday, the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Department of Labor announced $600,000 in federal funding to help expand this program to more schools in the state. Schools and other organizations can apply for grants of up to $250,000 to start educator pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs.
"It’s about identifying pathways that allow people to get paid as they’re doing critical work — and combining that with classroom instruction, as well as mentorship," Laura Fortman, the commissioner of the Maine DOL, said about apprenticeships.
Statistics from the department indicate nationally, 94 percent of apprentices continue their employment after their apprenticeship ends. That's positive news for the Maine DOE, which is still experiencing workforce shortages.
"It’s real. It’s not just a make-believe thing. The pandemic didn't help," Daniel Chuhta, the deputy commissioner of the Maine DOE, said. "It's great to see opportunities and ideas that come to fruition that are going to help address that."
Todd Belanger of Porter was in the first session of cohorts in Gorham. He said going into the second year of the program, he's feeling thankful.
"It was an opportunity for me as a single dad to go back to school, which was a big thing for me that I wanted to do — but also do it in a practical way where I'm working. I'm getting the benefits. I'm able to do all of that. It's a lot, but it made it doable," he said.
Application proposals are due September 25. You can learn more here.