Published Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at myedmondsnews.com
High School Students Explore Trade School Options at Edmonds College Trade Up Event
By Nick Ng
More than 200 high school students from the Edmonds, Mukilteo and Everett school districts explored the construction trades during the 11th annual Trade Up event at Edmonds College on Tuesday, October 7th.
Sporting hardhats and fluorescent lime vests, each group of students spend about 20 minutes at each trade booth to learn about the trade before moving on to the next booth.
About 14 different trades were featured, including those in construction, electrical systems and ironworking.
Several training partners – such as Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD), Carpenters Local 425 and Port of Everett – were on site, answering questions to students and showcasing what they do. Trade Up was sponsored by the Snohomish & Island County Labor Council and Workforce Snohomish.
Executive Board of the Snohomish & Island County Labor Council Charlotte Murry has been overseeing Trade Up since the beginning and said that last year’s event had about 190 students.
“We’re definitely seeing more minorities and more diverse gender representation,” Murry said. “All of the trainers that are here today are either representing union apprenticeship programs or they’re representing jobs that are represented as organized labor jobs.”
Seth Newsome, a business agent and organizer for Laborers’ Union Local 292, said he began in the construction trade as a teenager, mainly in foundation and concrete work. He joined the laborers’ union in 2007 and has since worked on various projects, including roads and transit stops.
“There’s a sense of pride and joy for everyone who visits, let’s say the Seahawks Stadium, where [we builders] had a hand in building that,” Newsome said. “For me, it was a lot of roads, sidewalk, curb and gutter, a lot of intersections and freeways.”
But not all trade work involves hand-on work. Newsome said he got involved with the labor union as a business agent because part of that job involves helping underrepresented workers find better job opportunities.
“I found a passion in trying to help change people’s lives,” he said. “There was a time where someone changed my life, and so giving that back, [I] try to pay that forward.”
Newsome said apprentices currently earn 60% of a journeyman’s wage, which is $30.23 per hour, plus a fringe benefit of $15.75 per hour. The fringe includes health, training and pension benefits paid by the contractor. These fringe benefits are not deducted from the apprentice’s wages but paid on top by the contractor as part of the negotiated package. Newsome also contrasted this with non-union construction workers, who typically have to pay for such benefits out of their paychecks.
“I’ve paid for it through my hard work and sweat equity,” he said. “I paid for it from showing up for a contractor and being a good employee.”
PUD’s Apprentice Program Administrator Julie Mainstone said that shop classes have gone away in many high schools, and many students do not know that there are trade opportunities that offer a living wage.
“For a while their schools were focused on testing for college, trying to push college, college, college,” Mainstone said. “I think now they’re realizing there’s going to be a big gap in the trades, a lot of vacancies in the trades, and we need people to build, rebuild our infrastructure. Schools are now finally starting to look for students that maybe have that potential or interest in working with their hands rather than going to school.”
Ironworkers Local 86 President Bryan Johnson, who was leading a group of Lynnwood High School students, said that the U.S. government has recently been cutting back several federally funded programs and that has affected the labor market, such as the Northwest hydrogen hub.
“The federal government last week said, “No more. We’re done with that,” Johnson said. “Immediate jobs in the hydrogen market, it didn’t affect us a whole lot. It just pushes our already 10- to 15-year mark out, another X amount.”
Johnson also said that the recent construction jobs that were put to for rebidding had jumped by at least $1 million due to the recent tariffs. However, the current labor unemployment isn’t as bad as it was in 2010 to 2011, he said.
“We had 800 people out of work with less members than we have today,” he said. “Today we have about 350 on the out-of-work list with more members. It’s not booming. It’s not a recession. We’re just kind of right there bordering the line.”
Despite the challenges of today’s job market, Mainstone said that such trade apprenticeship programs are expanding in Snohomish County.
She gave an example of the Regional Apprenticeship Program (RAP) that is offered in the Marysville School District. It provides high school juniors and seniors in Snohomish County with hands-on training in building and construction trades, dual high school and college credit opportunities.
“I think the challenge is communicating with kids that there are great opportunities in the trades,” Mainstone said. “[Many] kids want to have a YouTube page, and they think they can make millions of dollars right off the bat. It’s not really realistic.”
Journeyman lineman Dylan Saunders credited Mainstone for guiding him through his apprenticeship and ensuring accurate reporting of hours and placement on crews. He said he enjoys working with the students at events like Trade Up.
“You can see whose interest you’ve grabbed, and you got to try and keep that interest entertained because at that point you know that you might have an impact in their future – even if it’s one out of 30,” he said. “You might be able to not only help society, [you] help them make a good living. I wish someone would have stood out in my high school and said, ‘Hey, look at this opportunity that set before you.’ Sitting at a desk didn’t meet what I wanted to do.”
Mainstone said she would like more high school students to know that they don’t have to go the typical four-year college route to earn a good living and career.
“I let them know about the state’s and labor and industries websites, that they can go and look up any apprenticeship program they want, contact that program, ask what their qualifications are, what their application process is like,” she said. “I went to college. College was great for me but isn’t the path for everybody.”