To continue preparing students for high-wage, high-demand jobs, Frenship ISD has added a plumbing program for the 2022 – 2023 school year. The plumbing program is the newest offering in Career and Technical Education (CTE). CTE provides students with the academic knowledge, technical training, and soft skills needed to succeed in the workplace. 

Frenship began taking steps to implement plumbing in their course offerings after a community member reached out about the need for more plumbers in Wolfforth, Lubbock, and beyond.  

“Anywhere that we can start something that’s going to give a student an opportunity to identify what they love to do, what they’re good at, and what can pay the bills for their family in the future, we want to provide that opportunity,” said Keith Patrick, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Frenship ISD. 

To give the plumbing students space to work, another CTE program stepped up. Ira Flores, CTE Coordinator at Frenship ISD, shared that students in the construction program have built a framed-out house for the plumbing students to use to gain hands-on experience.  

“The construction students will get to see first-hand something that they built being used for educational purpose,” said Flores. 

With this new program in place, plumbing students will have the opportunity to learn from a Master Plumber and business owner, Walter Hardy. Along with learning in the classroom, students will also have the opportunity to begin logging hours towards their own Master Plumber licenses, while still in high school. Students who complete the plumbing program will also be able to test for the Tradesmen Limited License at the end of their courses. 

These two programs working together will allow students in each program to get the most out of their educational experience and learn real-world skills that they can take into their next chapters.