Martin Luther King College Prep students Draun Jenkins and Amaya Palmer wanted to take advantage of a unique opportunity when Shelby County launched an after-school vocational tech program at their school this semester.

“I feel like, why not do an after-school program, why not learn something that could take us down the road and get us somewhere far in life,” Jenkins, 19, said. “That we could actually learn and do and just might be our trade for our life.”

Jenkins and Palmer are two of nine students in the Vo-Tech Scholars program, a pre-apprenticeship pilot program funded by the county. Throughout the fall semester, students are taught various trades including carpentry, painting, plumbing, sheet metal work and welding.

Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and other county officials visited the Vo-Tech Scholars students Tuesday. Harris said the $17,000 program was created after citizens asked for more after-school and vocational tech programming.

MLK Prep was selected to host the pilot program because of the talent and potential of Frayser youth, Harris said. If the program is successful, the mayor’s office plans to expand the Vo-Tech Scholars program to other local high schools.

“A lot of the community said that what’s really needed is opportunities to pick up job skills and be able to later get high-paying jobs and meaningfully participate in the economy,” Harris said.

Vo-Tech Scholars students are expected to complete two programs to receive the certification. One is The Building Trades’ Multi-Craft Core Curriculum pre-apprenticeship program geared toward trade-based training. The other is The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Outreach Training Program, which educates students about workplace hazards.

About 30 MLK Prep seniors applied for the pilot program. Students meet Monday through Friday from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m., and are not allowed to miss more than five of the sessions to receive certification.

Palmer, 17, said while attending college is her first priority, she wanted to learn more about vocational tech.

“I wanted to do something,” Palmer said. “This was just a great opportunity. I was like, OK, let me go and grab it.”

Students who complete the program will receive a $1,000 Vo-Tech scholarship and certification certificate during a graduation ceremony held at the county building next month.

Christie Peet, CTE director for Frayser Community Schools, said students would need to take a full apprenticeship program to be eligible for those high-paying jobs, but a lot of the skills they’re learning now will transfer in their future careers.

“It allows them to be more marketable as students even if they decide not to go to college," Peet said. “They still have the skills to they need to walk into a position like welding, for example, and make up to $60,000 to $70,000 in the first year.”

Additional financial literacy and professional development training are part of the Vo-Tech Scholars program.

After being encouraged by his classmates to apply for the program, Jenkins said he’s enjoyed learning about all the different trades and has become most interested in painting.

“As youngsters, we’re learning it first-hand, so I really appreciate the mayor giving us this opportunity to get a chance and endure in this program,” Jenkins said.