CoorsTek Partners with CareerWise Colorado to Launch Youth Apprenticeship Program

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper takes a selfie with youth apprentices and sponsors at the Denver signing day.

Innovative CoorsTek youth apprenticeship program combines paid work experience with college credits

GOLDEN, CO  June 13, 2017  CoorsTek, the world’s leading engineered ceramics manufacturer, today announced that it is partnering with CareerWise Colorado to launch a youth apprenticeship pilot program at its Golden and Grand Junction, Colorado locations. The apprenticeship program helps high school students learn practical workplace skills as part of their education curriculum. 

 Governor John Hickenlooper helped celebrate by attending “signing day” events with the CareerWise Youth Apprenticeship programs in Denver and Grand Junction. These events recognized the inaugural class of youth apprentices and sponsors ─ including students who will begin their apprenticeships this fall at CoorsTek. 

 “CoorsTek wants to help students add practical skills and experience to their classroom learning that will expand both their educational and professional opportunities,” explains Maura Horn, VP of Talent Management at CoorsTek. “We believe that apprenticeships will help transform the way students move from high school into careers.” The three-year program allows students to work through two years of secondary education and the first year of post-secondary education, while exposing them to real-world career opportunities. 

 Students are able to earn college credits, gain valuable experience, and get paid all at the same time. “An apprenticeship opens doors to expanded opportunities,” said Dave Tiensvold, Workforce Development Programs Manager at CoorsTek. “When a student successfully completes her apprenticeship here, she will have a variety of options. And she will be equipped with practical skills and knowledge to choose the next step in her work-life journey.” 

 Young people who are never exposed to advanced manufacturing and all it enables may become adults who limit themselves by never considering a career in manufacturing. As a member of the Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance, CoorsTek connected with CareerWise Colorado to develop an apprenticeship program which helps expose young people to a workplace experience involving technology, manufacturing, and advanced materials ─ and the range of roles they can play in making the world measurably better.  

About CareerWise Colorado 

CareerWise Colorado is building a statewide system of youth apprenticeships that create pathways for students to access high-demand, high-paying careers at leading Colorado companies. Student apprentices also work toward high school graduation and earn post-secondary credit, industry credentials or both in their chosen career path. Established by the Business Experiential-Learning (BEL) Commission created by Gov. John Hickenlooper and chaired by Noel Ginsburg of Intertech Plastics, CareerWise Colorado will launch in school districts in metro Denver, Fort Collins and the Western Slope. 20,000 youth apprentices, or about 10 percent of Colorado students in their last two years of high school, are expected to participate by 2027. More information about CareerWise Colorado is available at www.careerwisecolorado.org. 

 About CoorsTek 

CoorsTek makes the world measurably better as the partner of choice for technology and manufacturing companies worldwide whose success requires the unique, high-performance properties of products manufactured from engineered ceramics and advanced materials. CoorsTek products and components touch people’s lives through amazing solutions to global challenges in energy, transportation, information technology, healthcare, and defense, among others. For more information about CoorsTek, including product information, its history since 1910, and locations throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Asia, visit www.coorstek.com.