JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As employers across the country search for more skilled trade workers, a national nonprofit is rolling a solution straight to students.
Be Pro Be Proud is bringing its mobile learning lab to Northeast Florida, giving middle- and high-school students a hands-on look at careers they might not have considered.
When field trips, job shadowing and in-person career exploration aren’t always possible, the mobile lab aims to bring the experience directly to kids — letting them try the work, not just hear about it.
During a visit with PAL (Jacksonville’s Police Athletic League) on Monument Road in Arlington, Reggie LaGrone, with Be Pro Be Proud, said the program is focused on reaching students early, before they’ve locked into a single idea of what a “good job” looks like.
“We’re targeting 8th graders, ages 13 on up through high school,” LaGrone said. “Sometimes we get some as low as 6th and 7th grade.”
Students with PAL toured Georgia’s Be Pro Be Proud mobile lab — brought to town for the week — and sampled multiple careers through simulations and interactive stations.
Some of the demos included:
- Plumbing
- Diesel/transportation careers (including driving simulators)
- Virtual reality experiences tied to skilled trades — including bridge demolition and even medical-style simulations
- Career pathways connected to construction and the ongoing housing demand
LaGrone acknowledged that students might not pick a trade career until they understand how essential (and wide-ranging) those careers really are.
“Nobody wants to be a plumber, but everybody needs the service of a plumber,” LaGrone said.
LaGrone said each region’s workforce needs can shape what students gravitate toward.
In South Georgia, for example, agriculture can drive interest in farming-related careers, while other areas might see stronger pull toward construction, transportation or other trades, LaGrone said.
Speaking with the students, LaGrone connected everyday life back to skilled trades, explaining that the goods we wear and eat have to move across the country, so diesel and logistics careers are behind more of our daily routine than they realize.
He also stressed that demand is already there, including in housing with a 30 million home shortage across the country.
His bottom-line message to students: “Where there’s need, there’s an opportunity.”
And those opportunities can mean a steady, often high-paying career.
“You’re always going to do well,” LaGrone said.
Be Pro Be Proud’s Mobile Learning Lab is coming to North Florida shortly after Labor Day with support from WareWorks, a local nonprofit focused on building interest, access and pathways into skilled trades.