DULUTH 鈥� Ryan Milton had a full-time job about a week after he graduated from Northeast Range 歪歪漫画 in Babbitt last spring.
The 18-year-old has spent his summer as an oiler on a three-person team at a gravel pit north of Duluth, making sure that the massive, chugging machines there stay in working order as they crush and sort rocks into different consistencies for regional road projects.
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鈥淚 make big rocks small,鈥� Milton joked during a free moment at work Wednesday.
Milton estimated he works about 60-70 hours each week, and that he鈥檚 earned about $25,000 before taxes since he started. Originally from Embarrass, Milton and a handful of other pit workers live in small trailers near the gravel pit's entrance.
The money, of course, appealed to him, but Milton also noted that other jobs in the same vein can fall to the wayside during the winter.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 put asphalt on the road all year and dig up roads all year, but what you can do all year is crush a rock,鈥� Milton said. 鈥淧retty much everywhere in the world, there鈥檚 going to be a need for rocks being crushed.鈥�
Milton鈥檚 interest in heavy equipment began at a young age, and he said he didn鈥檛 want to head to college after he graduated from high school. His dad has worked the same sort of job for the last 20 or so years and helped Milton land the gig at the gravel pit, which is operated by Ulland Brothers contractors.
鈥淚t was kind of a thing where I was like, if I don鈥檛 like it, I can always change it,鈥� Milton told the News Tribune.
Besides joyful rides in his grandpa鈥檚 front-loader and countless hours tinkering in the family garage, Milton got a start on his incipient career via a 鈥減athway鈥� for budding operating engineers at the Minnesota Virtual Academy, an all-online K-12 school run by Houston Public 歪歪漫画s in southeastern Minnesota.
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About 350 miles north of Houston, Milton learned general maintenance techniques, grading and staking, and construction-grade math alongside required classes at his traditional high school. He said he believes the classes helped him pass the tests he needed to join the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49. Milton said he had a job lined up at Ulland before he received his high school diploma.
The virtual academy enrolls K-12 students from across the state. It鈥檚 been a wing of Houston鈥檚 school district for 21 years. Per-student money from the state is the financial bread and butter for school districts across Minnesota, and Houston district leaders put the academy together to attract more students and keep the district鈥檚 doors open, according to Superintendent Mary Morem.
About 500 students attend Houston Public 歪歪漫画s in person, and another 1,600 or so attend the virtual academy.
The 鈥減athways鈥� within the academy are meant for students in grades 6-12, and they鈥檙e much newer than the virtual school 鈥� they鈥檙e in the same vein as the career 鈥渁cademies鈥� that have sprung up across the region over the past few years. Students who pick a pathway at the virtual school take coursework designed to give them a taste of a future career in nursing, IT, marketing and other fields.
The operating engineers pathway that Milton took is run in conjunction with Local 49, whose members offer staff time and use of a Hinckley training center for pathway students.
A in March 2021 apportioned $100,000 to the Houston district so administrators there can reimburse school districts whose students opt for a virtual academy pathway part time. The aim is to avoid hampering those district鈥檚 finances if a student opts for a pathways class.
The same bill also requires Houston leaders to report to the Legislature on the program by January 2024.
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Morem said the academy鈥檚 pathways can help students even if they鈥檙e not considering the field a given pathway might point them toward.
鈥淓ven if you鈥檙e maybe going to be a welder, but it鈥檚 a construction class or it is a heavy equipment class, it might give you some knowledge that you might need when you are a welder for a pipeline or whatever,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think it opens doors.鈥�
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