Students from Portsmouth High School may have found a good fit for their choice of careers after high school, when PHS Teacher Lenny Poage took his students to visit the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Hall Local 577 across the street on Thursday, Nov. 3.
Poage teaches English and College Readiness, and he wanted to show his students there are many different career options after high school.
“A lot of times there are representatives from the military and colleges coming in and telling students about their options after high school, but I think students need to know there are also options outside of those,” Poage said.
Students visited various workstations at the union hall to work hands-on with welding, brass pipefitting, knot tying, and other training to experience what the job site might be like.
“The only complaint they had is that they wanted to stay longer,” Poage joked. “Hopefully in the future we can plan a longer trip with a larger group of students. It was a great experience.”
He has asked all of the other local labor unions if they would also be willing to host students from Portsmouth High School, to demonstrate their work skills.
For more information about Portsmouth City Schools, visit them online at www.portsmouthtrojans.net, or follow the school’s page on Facebook.