SHAVERTOWN, Pa. — AMP Global strategies in Shavertown is donating to a Tools for Trade Scholarship program, a new program started by a nonprofit group called Your Dash 365.
It's aimed at students in Luzerne County who are pursuing a trade career after high school.
"Imagine a life without carpenters and plumbers and beauticians and barbers and welders. There isn't one. And I just think it's really, really important that they're rewarding jobs. We need to get back, and we need to support these kids, too. It's not just about the four-year college and the seven-year extension on the college," said Brenda Pugh of AMP Global Strategies.
"Four-year colleges are not for everyone. And we have wonderful trade schools and wonderful occupations that students can pursue, and often they don't get the scholarships because people look at the four-year college-bound student," added Jean Lipski, the scholarship coordinator. "In talking with our guidance counselor, we tried to come up with a group of students who normally don't get recognized."
Lipski has worked as a teacher for more than 40 years and has seen first-hand the value of trade professions, even if their value is not always front and center in the classroom.
"There are loads of kids who come out of a trade school and make more than I did after 40 years of teaching, and great for them. I mean, they're working hard, and they're producing what they love to do, and you know, just kudos to them," added Lipski.
Some even work at AMP in the Back Mountain.
"Absolutely. We do welding inside. We have some young high school students that are here learning how to do some sanding and some stuff on some equipment that we do and some of the installs that we do. You know, it's the mechanics. We work on cars; we work on all sorts of gear. So it's really important to give back; we need these people," said Pugh.
The scholarship program's goal will be to give recipients money to purchase the tools they need to learn their trade of choice.