Pi515 has begun a pilot apprenticeship program for high school students. Read the details of the program here:
Pi515 offered a pilot apprenticeship program to students ages 15-18 over the course of the Spring 2021 semester. Throughout the course the students focused on a WordPress curriculum, taught weekly by Pi515 IT staff member, Mohamed Sharif.
The apprenticeship program taught the students a trade skill that they can use professionally and personally. This apprenticeship class taught students how to build websites using WordPress and all the different plugins and themes it has to offer. Our course instructor, Mohamed, built the curriculum and assigned students weekly tasks.
Once the students were comfortable with WordPress, they split into teams to work on a final project. The final project gave the students the choice to work on building a website from scratch based on a topic they had interest in. Each team elected a leader, and divided the work amongst themselves. They were in charge of communicating with each other throughout the website build and presenting a final product. Two of our students opted to create their own websites independently as well.
Upon completion of the apprenticeship the students can now market their skills to any individual or company looking to hire a website designer. They can also use these skills to create personal portfolios to showcase their talents. The students have also developed important teamwork skills and have experience in meeting deadlines.
We are extremely proud of all of our apprenticeship students. Some of them started with little to no technology skills and in the end were able to build a website. Pi515 is excited to offer each apprenticeship graduate three college credits via the University of Iowa, a laptop, and a stipend. Special thank you to our sponsors at Variety Children’s Charity for making this pilot program possible.
Checkout our Pi515 Apprenticeship students final websites:
Restaurant Project: https://restaurants.pi515.org/
Portfolio Project: https://portfolio.pi515.org/
Independent Study Projects: https://mehlaw.pi515.org/ & https://art.pi515.org/
Pi515 plans to offer another Apprenticeship program in the fall of 2021. Please contact tech@pi515.org if you are interested.
