‘This is what this community needs’: PA LNG and Bechtel apprentice program welcomes new grads

Camren Thomas is thankful for Memorial High School’s Career and Technical Education program and for Bechtel for giving him and his peers an opportunity that led to an apprenticeship.

Thomas said before he got into the program at the high school he didn’t know how to use simple tools but now he and a group of recent graduates are working as apprentices for Bechtel at Port Arthur LNG.

The six recent graduates/new apprentices – Camren Thomas, Lazell Alpough, Omarion Mitchell, Jaylon Reed, Jose Valle and Emanuel Ruiz – were on hand as Port Arthur LNG and Bechtel were recognized with a proclamation for their work investing in the next generation of the city’s workforce.

In 2023, Port Arthur LNG partnered with Bechtel to commit $1 million over two years to enhance training, skill development and talent retention, Mayor Thurman Bartie read.

Students in Memorial’s CTE pipefitting and welding programs received the necessary training and National Center for Construction Education and Research certification and are on the road towards careers.

Councilman Donald Frank looked to representatives of Port Arthur LNG and Bechtel with words of praise.

“The greatest thing I can say about you on today is you kept your promise, you did what you said you were going to do,” Frank said. “And so the only thing stronger than concrete is somebody’s word, and I want to thank you for what you’ve been doing.”

Frank also offered thanks to Port Arthur Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Mark Porterie.

“I want to thank you all because this is what this community needs. It impacts these young men for the rest of their lives because, watch this, I want to say this in closing, if you don’t teach them how to make a living they’ll take a living,” he said. “It’s important because you get to feed yourselves and you get to feed your families. That’s what it’s all about.”

Bechtel is the company responsible for construction at Port Arthur LNG and the two are a team, Kelly Prasser of PA LNG said.

“We are so very proud of these young men and we do need to give credit where credit’s due because Memorial High School and the leadership there in this program had a lot to do with these young men standing here today,” Prasser said. “Bechtel put the tools in the schools, we got the teachers here that actually put the programs together. We’ve got welders here and pipefitters tonight.”

In May these young men graduated from high school and received an offer from PA LNG and Bechtel to work as apprentices on the site, she said.

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