A Promise of Jobs in Partnership Between Electric Boat and Coventry Schools

Students attending the Coventry High School Regional Career and Technical Center will have an opportunity for good paying jobs at Electric Boat upon graduation thanks to a new partnership.

The partnership was announced last week by District 29 Representative Sherry Roberts, who said that she is extremely gratified to know the arrangement will “improve future employment opportunities for our students.”

The program will also help Electric Boat, which is struggling to find enough skilled workers to join the ranks as they build submarines, especially after landing new, big contracts with the government.

Roberts said that in meetings with EB in recenty months, she heard the same message over and over: “They lamented about the shortage,” she said. ”And expressed concern with the difficulty they faced with filling hundreds of job openings coming available over the next few years.

“I wanted to do whatever I could for our Coventry and West Greenwich high school students so that they might be among future applicants who have the skill-sets required by employers,” Roberts said.

The agreement was hashed out over a series of meetings between former Superintendent Michael Almeida, Roberts and other officials.

The program gets off the ground thanks to a $198,000 grant through the Governor’s PrepareRI program to establish a welding program next year.

The program will begin with 9th and 10th grade students. Mentors and guest speakers from Electric Boat will be invited to address the students. 10th grade students will have a virtual reality welding experience. This will allow a ‘hands-on’ experience without a physical welding environment.

In the second year, 11th graders will participate in coursework at New England Tech. In the third year of the project, 12th grade students will have an alternating schedule, spending one day at Coventry High School and one day in an internship program at Electric Boat.

Coventry Superintendent Mike Convery lauded Roberts for her efforts initiating the discussions that led to the new partnership.

The best part of all? Students who complete the program are promised jobs at Electric Boat.

Also getting credit is the career and technical center director Lori Ferguson. Roberts acknowledged her “great work” in developing the grant application that funds the partnership.