Post-high school options are many these days, but what if you don’t prefer to go to college?
What if, instead, you like working with your hands and interacting with others on a professional level while solving real-world problems?
That was appealing to Riverside-Brookfield High School senior Jacob Alvarez.
That’s why he got involved in the Plumbers Local 130 Bridge Program, coordinated by the union and the Des Plaines Valley Region Educational Cooperative, with program assistance from Education for Employment.
“I knew past graduates who thought it was a good idea,” Alvarez said. “I don’t want to go to college, so they suggested I do something in the trades.”
Word travels fast in high school, which is how senior Lucas Wells learned about the program.
“I found out from a past graduate named Darius, and I also found out about it from one of the contractors from my mom’s job,” Wells said. “She works in Berwyn’s plumbers’ union.”
Over 10 weeks starting last fall until graduation Jan. 22, Alvarez, Wells, Kevin Callejas-Galindo, Diego Pinedo, Byron Vicuna and Rachel Dosek participated in the pre-apprenticeship program that teaches essential skills in math, tooling and safety protocols needed for a plumbing career.
As a result of completing the program, Alvarez will take his apprenticeship test March 5, where he will be able to leverage what he learned.
“I learned fundamentals like simple math and simple communications skills,” he said. “It wasn’t super intense. I liked learning from my instructors and classmates, that was the fun part.”
Callejas-Galindo agreed with his classmate that it “was more fun than intense.
“(I learned) kind of how to measure all different kinds of pipes and what kind of math we would need to be a plumber,” he said. “I had a lot of friends in class that I could learn from.”
Riverside Brookfield High School District 208 school board member Bill Durkin was involved in bringing the program to RB and enjoyed watching the third class of graduates take the stage on Jan. 22, including Dosek, the first female. In three years, Riverside-Brookfield has had close to 20 graduates.
“If you graduate, on graduation day before the ceremony, there are a number of signatory contractors that attend and interview the graduates about potential summer paid internships,” Durkin said. “To see the excitement and the pride on the kids’ faces, same with their parents, it’s such a good feeling.”
Ditto for Riverside-Brookfield principal Hector Freytas.
“At RB, we believe there are multiple pathways for success after high school,” he said. “Pursuing the trades, in this case, the Plumbers Bridge Program, is a pathway that has our full support and attention. Each year, more RB students participate in this program, and I am eager to see how the program continues to grow. I am proud to work with our board of education who share the same beliefs.”
Erica Kouba is a career coordinator for Education for Employment, which serves six school districts and nine high schools in western Cook County, including Riverside-Brookfield, which was one of the first to pilot the Plumbers Local 130 Bridge Program. Education for Employment interviews students to make sure they are a good fit for the program, then supports them throughout their journey.
“When we’re talking about the district as a whole, I think (the program) is expanding all the pathways students are interested in,” she said. “There are a lot of pathways that are high interest and high wage. It’s wonderful as a district that they can offer that as an opportunity.”
Kouba said that once a graduate is a journeyman, they can make over $100,000 a year.
“We need to have people in jobs that AI can’t do,” she said. “They are 18 and in five years they are making six figures and not having to pay any debt for college.”
Kouba’s best example of someone that has flourished based on what he learned in the bridge program is Darius Ferrier, a 2025 RB graduate who is currently an apprentice and teaching in the program.
“He is very happy with his decision,” she said. “I suggested this program to him, he took the test and became an apprentice and is almost done with his first year.”