This story part of a series highlighting local school community members as part of GSI’s IN Schools campaign. Watch each week for the next edition!
As you enter Nick Herberger’s advanced construction shop at Mt. Spokane High School, it’s immediately apparent this isn’t the traditional woodshop. Students operate with a quiet confidence, exchanging measurements, inspecting cuts, and sharing suggestions amid the sawdust-filled air. Carefully labeled tools are arranged neatly on the wall, resembling a well-organized jobsite. At the same time, projects at different stages of completion on the floor suggest more than just class assignments—they represent a clear route from high school to the workforce.
A Classroom That Runs Like a Jobsite
Herberger, who leads Mt. Spokane’s upper-level engineering and construction courses, designed his program around one key idea: students should graduate prepared for a job site, not just a classroom. He shifted from small projects like cutting boards to full-scale builds that meet industry standards, using only tools and techniques that are used on a construction site. Students learn safety, material handling, team management, task sequencing, and problem-solving from start to finish.
The result is a culture of independence and shared responsibility. In one recent visit, Mead School District administrator Moleena Harris supervised the class while Herberger was otherwise engaged, and was struck by how completely students owned the space. They measured and calculated for one another, held materials in place, and offered feedback without waiting for an adult to step in. Five minutes before the bell, a few students called out “Clean up,” and the room shifted instantly: brooms swept the floor, air compressors blasted sawdust off equipment, a shop vac chased down dust piles, and tools clicked back into their assigned places. The pencil cups on each desk were reset in perfect formation. Harris later called it a testament to “the systems and processes that are put in place in that space” and offered a public shout-out to Herberger for making it happen.
The Power of Pre-Apprenticeship
What sets Mt. Spokane’s construction pathway apart is that it does not end with a high school diploma. Through a partnership anchored by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and Clover Park Technical College, Herberger’s upper-level students can complete a formal pre-apprenticeship during their senior year. The program is designed as a true on-ramp to industry as students earn a completion certificate, receive college credit, and move to the front of the line for openings in registered apprenticeship programs across the region.
Because of that partnership, they’re able to get that certificate, and then they’re prioritized for openings in an apprenticeship program,” said Harris. Students will receive a certificate at the end of their senior year, and upon graduation, they can choose from over 10 apprenticeship programs in the area. For Herberger’s students, that means a clear pathway: finish high school and, in some cases, immediately start a paid apprenticeship, where they earn while they learn on real jobsites, with classroom instruction a few times a month.
Meeting Students Where They Are
Behind Mt. Spokane’s construction pre-apprenticeship is a regional effort led by Educational Service District 101 to expand high-quality career and technical education across seven counties. Jessica Dempsey, who oversees career and technical initiatives for ESD 101, sees the Mt. Spokane model as both rooted in its local context and intentionally adaptable. “We meet students where they are,” said Dempsey. “The program’s flexibility allows students to personalize their career path, and instructors avoid ‘cookie-cutter’ solutions, customizing the curriculum and experience at each location. That’s how we’ll build the models that meet the needs of the future.”
While Mt. Spokane’s shop is the most visible example, it is part of a network of pathways sharing curriculum, mentorship, and connections through ABC Inland Pacific and Clover Park Technical College. Support from legislation, including Washington’s HB 1013, has helped ESDs launch pilot programs linking high school coursework to college credit, workforce credentials, and apprenticeships. Dempsey has also helped establish a CDL training program, a middle school welding program at Glover, and expand into rural and tribal communities.
Rebuilding the Future of Trades Education
For Herberger’s students, all of that policy and partnership work translates into tangible options. They can earn college credit through College in the High School, complete a pre-apprenticeship program aligned with industry standards, and even connect their hands-on learning to military pathways or prior learning assessments that convert real-world experience into credit.
Herberger likes to remind his classes that a four-year degree may be the right route for some, but for others, trades offer a faster, more affordable way to a stable, well-paying career. His program is designed to give students another viable option, one that leads them into structured apprenticeships where they can become skilled and employable for life. In his classroom, they are already learning to think like foremen and project managers, not just carpenters: planning projects, leading peers, and taking responsibility for outcomes.
What happens in Nick Herberger’s shop each day—students calling their own cleanup, resetting their space without being asked, coaching one another through complex cuts and measurements—is a glimpse of what that future can look like. It is not nostalgia for old industrial arts; it is a reinvention of trades education that treats students as emerging professionals and gives them the tools, credentials, and confidence to step directly into high-demand careers. For Mt. Spokane, and for the growing network of schools following its lead, that future is already under construction.
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