Goose Creek high school students gain trade skills through program initiative

GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCBD) – Students at Goose Creek High School are learning skills that could lead directly to a trade job after graduation.

Three students, Cody Creson, Isaiah Fedderman, and Jontez Kendrick, are involved in a pilot program called Futureready, which is a joint partnership between the school district, Berkeley County Economic Development, and Trident Technical College.

It’s designed to give students options, even as soon as high school graduation, for career employment.

“I didn’t really know a lot of stuff before I took the course; then once I took it, it definitely helped me out understand more about cars and working with them. It definitely is an open option for me in the future,” said Fedderman.

“It’s pretty cool. You know what I’m saying? You make new friends from different schools, and you just interact with them,” said Kendrick.

The students are building a racing go-kart from the ground up.

“The process has taken us around seven to eight weeks or so. It’s been pretty nice,” said Fedderman. “We work on it Tuesdays and Thursdays. It’s a group of two of us, five on each team.”

“We’ve been putting a lot of hard work into it,” said Kendrick. “It takes time, but we’re almost there.”

The group of seniors are also thinking about their futures.

“The [Futureready] program has actually made me want to go to college because I had no idea I wanted to do that. So, that made me actually want to start college after I join the military for 4 1/2 years,” said Creson.

“Recently, I just got accepted to Winthrop University, which I want to do for computer science, and so on Saturday, I’m taking a tour of the college, and I’m thinking I’m gonna go to that college,” said Fedderman.

The students are looking forward to April 22, when they will race their new go-karts against other students in the program.

Students from Hanahan High School also participate in the initiative.