Apprenticeship gives SHS grad a headstart

SANDPOINT — At 19 years old, Dyllan Thompson never imagined he would be where he is today.

“And it all started when (Jake Stark) asked me if I wanted to do an apprenticeship,” Thompson said.

Thompson, a 2017 Sandpoint High School graduate, took part in an apprenticeship program with Idaho Forest Group in Laclede his senior year. Some representatives from the mill approached Stark, the school's welding teacher, and asked if he had any students interested in an apprenticeship. Thompson said he was one of two students Stark sent their way, and when it came time for the official interview at the mill, he was the only one who showed up.

Needless to say, Thompson got the job, working 36 hours per week while finishing his senior year in high school.

“It was stressful, but I was really interested in it and the money is really good, especially for a high school student,” Thompson said. “But then it got a lot harder when I went to college.”

Thompson attended North Idaho College last year, receiving a degee in the millwright/industrial technology field.

For the full year at NIC, Thompson said he worked from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. four days a week, and attended classes from 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. five days a week. He would drive home after school, sleep for about three hours, and then head back to work.

While it was “way harder than it sounds,” Thompson said it was all worth it. A few weeks ago, he put in notice with IFG after getting a job at Kaiser Aluminum in Spokane.

“It pretty much can’t get any better than that,” Thompson said, adding that Kaiser is not an easy company to get hired on with.

There was a hands-on and hand-written test during the hiring process, and Thompson said he got the second-best testing scores of those vying for the job.

“It all kind of just came together,” he said.

Thompson started at IFG through Apprenticeship Idaho, a Registered Apprenticeship program administered through the Idaho Department of Labor that includes a youth program for students.

Registered Apprenticeship is a national and state program with more than 29,000 apprenticeship programs providing education and training to more than 500,000 apprentices. In Idaho, more than 250 employers, associations and labor unions have implemented apprenticeship programs.

During a presentation on the program at SHS last January, IFG manager Brian Riley said Thompson was the second student they received through the program. “All in all,” he said, the youth apprentices were working out well for IFG.

“We recognized a need to get a pipeline going for our skilled trades, specifically our maintenance mechanic or millwright program,” Riley said.

As for students who might be interested in doing an apprenticeship, Thompson said to go for it and “stick it out,” as there may be times where it seems like too much.

“But I promise everything will be easier after it’s done,” Thompson said. “It makes such a huge difference. My life went from super hard … to holy cow, it is all coming together.”

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.