Photo: The Johnson County Schools Board of Education was joined by Dataseam CEO Brian Gupton during its regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 23 to give recognitions to two Johnson Central High School graduates for their completion of a skilled apprenticeship program focused on information technology during their time at JCHS. Paintsville Herald photos by Waylon Whitson.
Students who completed an apprenticeship through a partnership between Johnson County Schools and Dataseam were recognized by the Johnson County Board of Education during its regular meeting on Oct. 23.
The apprenticeship program allowed two students, Brandon Holbrook and Benjamin Moore, to work in information technology to support the district while enrolled in classes at Johnson Central High School, according to Dataseam CEO Brian Gupton, who attended the meeting and explained the program and the students’ accomplishment.
“To explain what these two graduates of Johnson County Schools have earned, these two young men were selected to participate in a registered apprenticeship program, a skilled trade in information technology, through the United States Department of Labor back in 2020,” Gupton said. “It was a two-year program that was funded through a grant by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The ARC was looking to diversify economies, which Dataseam has done by working to bring STEM workforce opportunities in technology for 20 years now.
“Registered apprenticeship was a new thing for us, beginning in 2018,” Gupton continued. “We developed a curriculum in response to the needs of our K12 employer partners. K12 schools are the largest employers in most of Kentucky’s counties and also the largest consumer of technology. You guys use so much technology on a daily basis across a variety of users, platforms and needs. What you all do on a daily basis is not that different from what is needed in our finance sector, our local banks, our hospitals and also our state and federal government, our courthouses.”
Gupton said this similarity in networks and requirements made school districts a perfect training ground for maintaining those large networks and that could be linked to diversifying the skilled trades in Appalachia.
“Our school districts were a perfect place for us to implement this registered apprenticeship program,” Gupton said. “It’s a skilled trade, just like welding or carpentry, or any of the things that we normally think of in our vocational education and information technology has the capacity to create family-sustaining income for individuals that enter the field.”
Although Holbrook and Moore both chose to seek higher education after high school, Gupton said that completing the apprenticeship program allowed them to enter directly into the workforce if they wanted to.
“While Brandon and Ben took a different path and have moved on into additional instruction at a college level, this training allows somebody, if they want to, to go into the workforce much sooner in life with meaningful employment,” Gupton said. “Both Ben and Brandon have been employees of the Johnson County School District for two years. They worked with (District Technology Coordinator) Mike (Whitaker) and the rest of the team addressing a whole host of things, but learning and earning along the way. So, they were employees in addition to undertaking coursework throughout their normal school day and working 200 hours in each year of the two year program in order to earn this certificate.”
Gupton said that he, the district and Dataseam as a company were proud of the two recipients and said he had offered Holbrook a job in Morehead and said he would help Moore with the same somewhere in Lexington as he attends University of Kentucky.
“We’re proud of them. I was sitting here with Brandon going, ‘Do you need a job right now?’ and we’re going to try to figure out where we can put him to work at Morehead, there’s a whole host of folks who need IT workers in Morehead, up to and including Rowan County Schools,” Gupton said. “Then, also, Ben, you know we generally work with a different university at a college level, but we’re going to figure you out at a college level as well.”
Gupton said Dataseam is proud of the pair as they were the first to complete the apprenticeship.
“We’re proud of them, they are the first to do this registered apprenticeship, this was an adult-level apprenticeship in the K-12 space and we’re also thankful to you all as an employer partner to help us work through this. This was a new thing in Kentucky, not just in Johnson County Schools,” Gupton said. “Both of these young men helped Johnson County Schools earn almost $50,000 worth of technology as a part of completing the apprenticeship, in addition to the $25,000 that Mike earned being a mentor in this space, so not too shabby of a haul to start the new school year.”
Gupton then explained the partnership behind the initiative as he presented Holbrook with a certificate and gave Moore’s certificate to his parents, as Moore attended the meeting virtually from his dormitory in Lexington.
“So, this certificate is from the Kentucky Registered Apprenticeship Program through the United States Department of Labor and also overseen at a state level by the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet, that reflects (the pair’s) work and service to the district but also the completion of this skilled trades program,” Gupton said. “Congratulations.”
According to Gupton, a second cohort of three apprentices were currently working under Whitaker in the district and a third was set to start soon.
Whitaker said that he appreciates Dataseam Initiative, Inc.’s partnership with the district.
“(Gupton) has been with Johnson County Schools and a great partner throughout my whole career, and without the work of Dataseam, the apprenticeship, the technology and the opportunities that they’ve brought us, the technology in the district wouldn’t be what it is,” Whitaker said.
The Johnson County Schools Board of Education meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 5 p.m. in the district’s central administrative building on the Johnson Central High School and Johnson County Middle School campus and all meetings are open to the public.
Read the full story at The Paintsville Herald HERE.
