Fresca Mexican Foods Youth Apprenticeship Program announced at Middleton High
Press release: November 29, 2022
Fresca Mexican Foods, Caldwell, Idaho & Middleton School District, Middleton, Idaho Fresca Mexican Foods Youth Apprenticeship Program
Fresca Mexican Foods is pleased to announce the hiring of two new youth apprentices from the Middleton School District into Fresca's Nationally Registered Apprenticeship Program as Machine Operators at their production plant in Caldwell, Idaho.
In May of 2022, Superintendent Marc Gee from the School District, and Adam Doolhoff, Chief Product Officer from Fresca began working with staff at Middleton High School and Tim Blonsky from Idaho Business for Education and its Youth Apprenticeship Program to develop a program with nationally registered standards of apprenticeship through the Idaho Department of Labor.
This collaborative new program was introduced at the beginning of the 2022/2023 school year with three students expressing interest in the apprentice opportunity. Two of those students have continued through the program and will sign their apprenticeship agreements on Thursday, December 1st at 10
A.M. at Middleton High School.
Through this Nationally Registered Apprenticeship Program, these paid apprentices will learn on the job, while also receiving related classroom instruction from Middleton School District's CTE Pathways Program. They will work part-time during the school year, gaining work-based learning credit as well.
Upon completion of their apprenticeship, they will earn a nationally recognized credential that demonstrates their mastery in the field of Production Machine Operation.
This innovative program provides a pipeline of talent from a local high school to a local employer and also provides a repeatable model for other businesses and schools in the Treasure Valley as companies here work to meet current challenges within the workforce.
"We are glad to have these two young men join our team here at Fresca! We can't wait to see the ways in which this experience helps them in their future endeavors, and we are thrilled to be a part of this program," Fresca Mexican Foods Human Resources Manager, Teresa Taylor said.
"We are particularly excited about starting this program with Fresca and grateful to have two Middleton students kick it off," Superintendent Marc Gee said. "This also sets the groundwork for exploring other apprenticeship avenues in the Treasure Valley for Middleton students. Apprenticeships, such as this one, give students a head start at post-secondary opportunities."
Please join us as we celebrate Trevor Alvey and JT Nunez from Middleton High School as they begin their careers as Machine Operation Technicians in the food production at Fresca Mexican Foods.