TORRINGTON, Conn. — More than two dozen seniors from Oliver Wolcott Technical High School in Torrington already have a job lined up after graduation.
To celebrate, the school hosted a Career Signing Day on Wednesday.
"I think too often our trade students are not celebrated like our career and college-bound students are," said Stephanie Seitlinger, dean of students at Oliver Wolcott Technical High School.
A total of 27 students were honored at the ceremony. Their families cheered them on as their names were called, and they were joined by their future employers to sign their contracts publicly.
"It was nice to know that I have a job for after I graduate, I'll be working full time for a company I've already been working for, and that there's going to be more experiences to come," said Aaliyah Chausse, one of the students taking part in Signing Day.
For Chausse, this is a culmination of something she knew she wanted to do ever since she was little.
"I knew I didn’t want to go to our average high school that we have, our public high school, I wanted to do something in the trade," Chausse said. “Even as a little kid when I had my toys, I was always taking them apart and putting them back together to see how they worked."
As part of the apprenticeship program with the state, the students will be going into a number of different fields within the trade.
"Precision machining, plumbing, carpentry, electrical, health tech and so on," said Larry Pomerleau, Department Head for Precision Machining at Oliver Wolcott Technical High School.
And the jobs, are in high demand right now.
"These are high wage, high demand jobs. employers are begging for students at this point and our students are very anxious to take those positions," Seitlinger said.
“The advice I give is to go into the trades. It is a debt-free method of you being able to get into the workforce, earning a very good living in the high 90s, low six figure digits," said Pomerleau.
But it's not all about money, it's their passion, too.
"It was the most fun to me out of all the shops in the school. Personally, I like the painting and welding the most. It was more hands-on and that's the best way you can describe auto body," said Bryanna Proud, who will be working at Connecticut Auto Wholesalers in Torrington.
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Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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