Three Napavine High School alumni — Bryson Oliver, Conner Reichert and Patience Dour — were joined by their friends, family, educators and professional mentors at the high school on Thursday, Dec. 18, to celebrate their completion of the Napavine Career and Technical Education (CTE) program in partnership with AJAC Advanced Manufacturing Apprenticeships.
Also in attendance was AJAC Youth Apprenticeship Manager Creed Tremain-Nelson along with Napavine School Board Chair Dan Mikota, school board member Tell Sallee and Lewis County Commissioner Lindsey Pollock.
The event featured a dinner catered by Napavine High School Culinary Instructor Dalton Workman and his students.
Oliver, Reichert and Dour each completed a total of 2,000 on-the-job automation technician training hours at Walsh Trucking Co. and Braun Northwest, Inc. and received their automation technician journeyman cards.
They now join the growing number of high school graduates electing to enter a trade field after graduation instead of pursuing a two or four year degree at a university — as the average in-state annual tuition at public U.S. universities for the 2025-2026 school year is $10,634, according to the Education Data Initiative.
The average annual salary for an automation technician journeyman is $79,209, according to indeed.com.
Napavine CTE Director Dave Rutherford congratulated the trio for being able to complete their apprenticeships while still going to classes throughout their time working at Walsh Trucking and Braun Northwest.
“I’m really proud of these three students. Being the first ones for Lewis County, and being the first ones for Napavine — definitely setting the standard,” Rutherford said.
He added he’s had an additional 11 current Napavine High School juniors express interest in a CTE apprenticeship starting next summer. Additionally, he’s looking to partner with other local businesses along with Walsh Trucking and Braun Northwest for students to get on-the-job training with, and is also coordinating with other Lewis County high schools to help them get apprenticeships started for their students.
“We’ve got businesses that need workers. So training people and getting them ready to fit those (staffing) shortages is a big goal,” Rutherford added. “I think that’s where education, especially CTE, really fits that.”
All three graduates were thankful for their time in the program and for the work experience they gained.
“I’ve learned a lot at Braun. I’ve learned how to make a lot of things, how to better read drawings aside from in our class and communication skills with people around the shop,” Dour said.
She told the 11 students looking into entering CTE apprenticeships to keep up with their school work alongside the training.
“I learned how to work on trucks,” Oliver said. “And I learned how to work with people a lot better, and independently, too.”
“For me, the main thing is communication with other people, talking to drivers, stuff like that,” Reichert added. “And then really probably just learning how to get out of my comfort zone, working on projects that I’m not necessarily comfortable with.”
Walsh Trucking Co. manager Claude Nelson thanked both Rutherford and the new journeymen for their work.
“The program has been great. It went really well. We’ve had blips, you know, good things and bad things, but nothing that we couldn’t work through,” Nelson said. “Like I said earlier, if you don’t screw up every now and again, then you aren’t doing anything at all. Nothing is a ‘screwup.’ It’s a learning moment.”
Nelson stated that, despite some hiccups, it was still easier to train the Napavine CTE program apprentices rather than having to re-train someone coming from the technician training program at Centralia College.
Braun Northwest fabrication and design lead Nick Zavodsky told attendees at first he and his colleagues were hesitant to take on high school student apprentices, but in the end he was glad they did.
“It was kind of intimidating to grab an intern in a shop that’s a production-based shop. Everybody’s on overtime. Who’s gonna train? How’s this going to work? Four months in, we were more than pleasantly surprised,” Zavodsky said. “Patience in general has grown into one of our lead producers, so it’s been a great fit. We hope she’s learned a lot. She’s taught us a lot.”
Tremain-Nelson added AJAC is working on expanding apprenticeship programs at high schools across Washington state, with a dozen operating so far.
“This isn’t a program for everybody, but for the people it works for, it’s a really, really great program,” Tremain-Nelson said. “And I think the three of you really exemplify that. This has been a program that’s worked well for you three.”
