The Your Future in Technology (YourFIT) Program will once again display High-Tech, High-Wage and High-Demand career paths at local high schools this spring!

Nine Career & Technology Expos will promote nine technical career paths and training to middle & high school students, their parents and the public. These career paths qualify as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Careers.

The Technology Career Expos start on Feb. 28 at Aberdeen High School. All Expos begin at 5:30 p.m., with refreshments and a survey to assess current career knowledge. This is followed by tour of company career demonstration booths and COT training booths. An acquired knowledge survey is then administered follow by door prize drawings.

The YourFIT Program was started 3 years ago when premier regional employers, such as the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), indicated that good technical positions were becoming difficult to fill. Surveys of high school students throughout Southeast Idaho indicated that 96 percent of them had little or no knowledge of, or interest in, the high wage and high demand technical careers available in the region.

The first two years of YourFIT improved knowledge and interest in technology careers and more needs to be done with new high school and middle students. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the Idaho STEM Center, Bayer, Williams Inc, Simplot and other regional companies fund the coalition’s project, YourFIT.

This support enables development and execution of Technology Career Expo events at high schools in the region, allowing students, teachers, and parents to see hands-on demonstrations of these careers in practice.

In 2018, the RightFIT Program was deployed using the Department of Labor’s Growing Together Program to educate high school career counselors and educators about technical careers and tour actual industries.

Kandi Rudd, regional manager of workforce development for the Idaho Department of Labor in Pocatello, says that not only are the jobs and education available locally, but most require only two years of study and compare favorably with careers requiring four or more years of university study.

“Our statistics show that the median wage for someone entering the workforce with only a high school diploma is $29,700, while the median wage for someone with a four-year college degree is $44,500,” she said. “However, the median salaries for the nine selected career paths range from $34,500 to $80,600 with only two years of college study.”

Rudd said that each of the eight career paths offer opportunities for career-long growth, with employers paying for the costs of increased training in most cases.

“Training opportunities for these high-tech, high-wage, high-demand jobs are currently available at ISU’s College of Technology” says R. Scott Rasmussen, Dean of the College of Technology.

The nine high-tech, high-wage, high-demand career paths include:

Welding Information Technology GIS/CIS/Cyber-security.

Instrumentation/Controls Maintenance engineers/mechanics.

Nuclear Operating technology Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones).

Outdoor Electrical Machining (CNC).

Diesel Mechanics.