Eighteen-year-old Deshawn Sparkman of St. Paul faced a big challenge while in high school — homelessness.
It often led to poor attendance and job placement problems.
But, “everything is starting to look up,” he says as he starts his summer internship and celebrates his recent graduation from Como Park Senior High School.
A school resource officer at Como Park connected Sparkman and 14 other students and recent graduates with paid trade internships for the summer when he realized they were not college bound.
The students started their nine-week long internships last week, during which they will learn skills for trade careers including carpentry, bricklaying and roofing.
The Minnesota Trades Academy has offered trade internships for the past 14 years, and began directly working with Como Park’s resource officer this year — opening opportunities for Como Park’s at-risk students and helping solve the program’s transportation problem.
“(It’s) just, to provide opportunities to these kids … opportunities other than college,” said Toy Vixayvong, the school resource office at Como Park who began the partnership with MTA.
Vixayvong said while he was working with Como Park students, he realized some were not “straight-A students” and unlikely to attend college. He said he wanted to expand post-high school options for these students, and then met Sam Ebute, director of MTA.
The two connected over career possibilities that could be provided to Como Park students through a partnership, Ebute said.
“(It’s) just our passion to provide a pathway for a lot of young (men and) women that are lost through the education process,” he said.
Ebute said many schools want every student to attend college, which isn’t always realistic.
Many students are visual learners, create better work with their hands and don’t test well, he said, making them great candidates for a trade career.
The internships “(gives) these kids that are visual and hands-on learners the opportunity to make a livable wage,” Ebute said.
Sparkman said he was uncertain about his future post high school because didn’t have plans to attend college.
“I was wondering what I was going to do this summer. I’m fresh out of high school, (so) I don’t have any plans. And (then) Officer Toy came to me,” he said.
He hopes the internship is a starting step to achieve a “solid” construction career, he said. “This is the reason why I actually got this job, because it’s hands-on and I like it. I’m interested in this,” Sparkman said.
During their time at various job sites throughout the summer, interns will learn how to take measurements, weld, solder, lay concrete pads, tile work and equipment operation techniques, as well as professional job skills such as time management and communication.
The students change sites weekly and started their internship June 18 with a week of safety training and orientation. They just finished their first week of hands-on work, which included roofing and construction work. Making just over $11 an hour, the interns could earn more as they move through the internship and training programs.
Sparkman said the internship is not only preparing him for a future trade career, he is also using his pay to support his single-mom and 9-year-old brother.
“She’s a good mom, she does a lot, but it’s hard for her to take care of everything as she’s a single parent. So I want to help her out. Get a job and support her like she supported me,” he said.
Many of the students didn’t have transportation, so Vixayvong also volunteered to drive the students to and from the internship site everyday — doubling the number of interns MTA can train. The St. Paul Police Department provided a 15-passenger van for Vixayvong to use.
Sparkman said he plans on moving out of his mom’s house in September and hope to support himself with a trade job.
“Being homeless will always be in my mind. I’ve (gone) through that a lot in high school,” he said. “This is good for me because it helps me find stability.”