Permeability in Practice: Bridging CTE and Higher Education for Student Mobility

When we launched our first youth apprenticeship, we expected a familiar narrative: employers wanting high school students to sweep floors, stack parts, or fill entry-level roles. But that’s not what we heard.

In conversation after conversation, we encountered something different—something hopeful. Employers didn’t just want students to fill labor gaps. They wanted young people who could grow with them. Machinists, yes. But also engineers. Leaders. Innovators. They were willing to take an apprentice—but they hoped that apprentice would come back one day with a degree and design the next generation of tools, processes, and systems.

That changed everything.

Listening Changed the Design

Too often, schools draw hard lines between “college kids” and “career kids”—as if future engineers and future machinists should sit in separate rooms, take different math classes, and walk different paths. But the people actually hiring them? They don’t want those paths divided. They want systems that build well-rounded, future-ready talent. They want people who understand the full stack—from blueprint to production line.

To get there, we had to design differently.

We Didn't Let the Door Close

In our apprenticeship model, students didn’t have to choose between trades and college. They could do both. We built permeable pathways—systems where students could earn industry certifications and meet four-year university admissions requirements. No compromise. No sacrifice.

Why does that matter? Because many of our students didn’t see themselves as “college material.” They’d been told that narrative, sometimes subtly, sometimes outright. But with the right design, they didn’t have to opt out of opportunity. They could keep every door open.

Trevor’s Story

Our first cohort included Trevor. Quiet, focused, brilliant with his hands. He was one of our youth apprentices—a high school student learning machining in a real-world setting while still working toward college credit.

In 2018, we were invited to present at the Western Governors’ Association in Seattle. Trevor came with us. He stood in front of governors, policymakers, and national leaders, and told them plainly: “I want to be an engineer who can build what I design.”

That’s it. That’s permeability. A young person, gaining real-world experience, while still preparing for a future in higher education. Not because we watered anything down—but because we designed with trust. We trusted that students can do both. We trusted that employers want more than compliance—they want competence and potential. And we trusted that if we listened, we could build systems that truly work.

What We Learned

Permeable pathways are not a luxury. They’re a necessity. If we design apprenticeships that close doors, we’re not serving students—we’re sorting them. But if we design for growth, mobility, and real alignment, we can change what’s possible.

Trevor’s not the exception. He’s the blueprint.

Let’s build systems where every student can say, “I want to be the engineer who builds what I design”—and actually mean it.