By Adria Salvatore, AWFS® Education Director
Happy #CTEMonth! In February, we celebrate Career Technical Education (CTE) and highlight ways to engage with CTE programs, teachers, and students!
What is CTE?
When you were in high school, you may have been aware of “vocational education” or “shop” classes -- this was historically how students learned woodworking skills. But today, the educational landscape has changed and the focus is now on Career Technical Education (CTE), which provides students with real-world skills to prepare them for future careers in industry. CTE spans many industry sectors, but for the wood industry, CTE programs that would[...]
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SHARED FROM WOODWORKING NETWORK
Kelly Victor-Burke, owner of Burke Architectural Woodwork, shared how she launched the nation's first woodwork manufacturing specialist apprenticeship in her Southeastern Michigan shop in a Woodworking Network webinar. Titled, "Grow your own: Training your future skilled woodworkers," the webinar was held in December 2020 and was aimed at showing how others can set up a Department of Labor-registered woodworking apprenticeship program. Victor-Burke drafted the initial framework of the program to address the employment gap in the wood products industry through cross-training and upskilling new and existing employees in a combination of CAD, mechatronics, wood processing, coatings, estimating and[...]
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The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Office of
Apprenticeship (OA) has announced approval of a new Competency-based Occupational
Framework (CBOF) for the occupation of Woodwork Manufacturing Specialist. For the past 3
years, a group of visionary industry and education members from Michigan and across the
country collaborated on drafting the framework for an innovative 21st century registered
apprenticeship, “Woodwork Manufacturing Specialist” with assistance from the Urban Institute
in Washington DC and Workplace Intelligence Network (WIN) and led by Kelly Victor-Burke of
Burke Architectural Millwork, who conceived and drafted the initial framework.
The newly approved registered apprenticeship was created to address the employment gap in
woodworking and[...]
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READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE
Brian Joyce, Vice President of Sales at Blum Inc., entered our industry in the early 1980s, building cabinets for a small, custom cabinet shop in Southern California as a way to support himself through college. Little did he know then that this "odd job" would lead to a rewarding career.
Over the last three decades, he has worked for three industry leaders. Five years ago, he moved from California to North Carolina where Blum's U.S. corporate office is to take on more national responsibilities within the Sales Department before becoming VP of Sales almost three years ago. We[...]
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Exciting news! A registered “woodwork manufacturing specialist” apprenticeship should be available in about a year! This is a hot topic and something our industry has needed for quite some time. It will help wood manufacturers (especially small and medium-sized) be able to offer an apprenticeship in their factories. According to Mark Smith, a member of the development committee for the apprenticeship, the group plans to submit the apprenticeship to the DOL for review in October, and the approval process is expected to take one year. Read all the details here. [...]
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