On Tuesday morning, Dylon J. Searfoss, 17, of Saint Clair, was removing ceiling tiles from the break room at the Pottsville city garage.
“I think they’ve been up there since this place was built,” Thomas W. Whitaker, the city’s current superintendent of streets, said. The garage at 425 E. Railroad St. was built in spring 1991.
“We’re going to replace them with ones that are fireproof,” Richard Davis, a truck driver for the city, said.
Last week, Searfoss removed a shower at the garage and installed a sink.
“We got the sink in last Thursday,” he said.
“He soldered and installed all that plumbing in that sink,” Whitaker said.
In the next few weeks, Searfoss may be improving sections of City Hall, 401 N. Centre St., and the former city hall building at 14 N. Third St.
“We’re going to be moving on to some of our public buildings, but I’m not sure which ones yet,” Whitaker said.
Searfoss, a plumbing and heating student at Schuylkill Technology Center-South Campus, Mar Lin, is a junior at Pottsville Area High School. Last week, he started a six-week internship at the city garage through a new program developed by Schuylkill Technology Center and PA CareerLink in Pottsville, Tim P. McGinley, STC’s cooperative education coordinator, said Tuesday.
“It came about through a coordinated effort,” Whitaker said.
STC’s Occupational Advisory Council was involved. Andy Wollyung, a plumbing instructor at STC, was also part of the effort. Wollyung recommended Searfoss for the program, McGinley said.
“And there is an application process from STC and a big part of is our training plan. For example, Tom and I sat down with Mr. Wollyung and we laid out the tasks that Dylon would be involved with. And, in this case, the internship had to be related to plumbing,” McGinley said.
PA CareerLink is covering the cost of the program, McGinley said.
“It’s work experience with the city and the county. And STC’s students in these programs are enrolled in the PA CareerLink Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act In-School Youth Program. The students are being paid. They’re paid minimum wage. It’s paid for through WIOA with federal funds,” Gary MacCready, director of youth programs at PA CareerLink, Pottsville, said Tuesday.
Searfoss is the first student to take advantage of the new program.
“And this is the first time we’ve had an intern here at the streets department. We often work with STC students on projects. And we decided this would be a good project to help a student and help us,” Whitaker said.
“I work here three days a week,” Searfoss said.
“He’s here Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, seven hours a day,” Whitaker said.
“And he’s at STC two days a week because we have to honor the child labor laws. A minor during the school week, Monday through Friday, is allowed to work 28 hours,” McGinley said.
“He’ll get field experience in plumbing and we’ll have improvements made to our facilities,” Whitaker said.
“It gives me experience out in the real world, and with that there are challenges. Instead of being in the shop at school where the assignments are handed to you, here you run into problems that you have to deal with. You get a better idea of what it’s like having a job in the plumbing field,” Searfoss said.
“When you look how diverse this job is, you’ll see it’s not just plumbing. It’s everything,” Whitaker said.
There are a total of 16 full-time workers at the city garage, including Whitaker.
Looking ahead, Searfoss said he would like to further his education in the field.
“I’d like to attend a tech college,” Searfoss said.
“You’re going to be a second generation plumber, too,” Davis said.
Searfoss said his father, Jeff Searfoss, is also a plumber.
A computer student at STC-South will soon take advantage of this new program at the Schuylkill County Courthouse, McGinley said.