Apprentice Academy fills a gap

Steve Hartz was frustrated that many job applicants were unqualified and lacked even basic skills for openings at his company, Value Tool and Engineering, Inc. in South Bend.

So he decided to do something about it.

Steve Harz, owner of Value Tool & Engineering, Inc. and founder of the Apprentice Academy

Hartz, a South Bend native, founded the Apprentice Academy in 2007 with the goal of helping job seekers get the education and skill training they needed to find work.

“I’d thought about this for a long time and talked with other business owners who had the same problem,” he says.

Hartz, 52, worked his way up through a tool-and-die apprenticeship. He then labored for another firm, became its general manager and then started his own business in 1998 to make prototypes, test equipment and production hardware for the aerospace industry. His company now has 45 workers.

Apprentice Academy is unique, Hartz says, because students do not need to have high school diplomas to enroll. They can take entry-level math and reading classes as well as courses in precision machining, industrial maintenance, phlebotomy (drawing blood), medical transcription and how to be a home health aide. They range in length from four weeks to 18 months.

Hartz worked with Suzanne Wheeler of Vincennes University’s Business and Industry program to set up Apprentice Academy’s curriculum. The course work and instructors are qualified through Vincennes and students can earn college credits.

“We are trying to fill a gap,” Hartz says. “One of the barriers to job training is the lack of a GED or a high school diploma. In certain areas of the city, that can be at least 50 percent of the population.

“Our philosophy is to get students in, give them some basic skills so they can get a job and then encourage them to go on with their education and get their GED fully understanding that getting a job so they can eat is more important, up front.”

Teaching life skills

Hartz says the Apprentice Academy also teaches life skills.

“We stress that it’s also important to show up on time, dress appropriately, not talk on your cell phone at work, so-called ‘soft skills’ that sometimes people have a hard time comprehending. But our students understand the importance of these soft skills, because they want to work.”

Hartz says the Apprenticeship Academy currently has between 75 and 100 students. So far, 100 have graduated from the programs, including two he has hired at his company.