Aurora resolution brings funding for students training for trades

Gateway High School freshman Audrey Valladolid says she entered high school a typical student.

"I was more focused on getting my grades good and I was more focused on sports instead of actually trying new things," said Valladolid.

Now, she has a life path picked out thanks to Construct-Tech at Gateway. It's a six-year program with Community College of Aurora that prepares students for a career in the trades. It's a path Audrey says she never even considered, but she's glad she tried it out.

"I never thought about it, honestly," said Valladolid. "You get to be hands-on. We get to be out in the shop and we don't have to sit in a small space on a computer all day."

Aurora City Council Member Francoise Bergan is a huge supporter of programs like this. So much so that she introduced and helped pass a resolution that will leverage money and knowledge from contractors in Aurora to fund and support trade-focused programs in the city's public school districts.

"We're really excited about bringing this program to our high schools," said Bergan.

She says it's not only good for Aurora students but for the city.

"What we found was we have a shortage in the trades from a workforce perspective. But secondly, there are people that would love to have the opportunity to learn trades and earn a great living and be happy," said Bergan.

Andrew Woods is the teacher of Gatweway's Contruct-Tech program. He says this new resolution will help fuel learning by providing students materials they can make mistakes on.

"We're not a book learning school," said Woods.

Audrey says she's just happy she gets to keep on building.

"We just keep working, and it's fun to work with other people," said Valladolid.

Right now, only two schools participate in this program Gateway High School and Vista PEAK Preparatory. They're hoping with increased funding they can increase that number.