Ted Goeres prepares a new generation of servant leaders in the trades By David F. Salter
According to the “experts,” Teddy Goeres probably shouldn’t be doing what he’s been doing for his entire career. Despite his humble heart and sometimes chaotic conversations, Goeres rejected what the naysayers predicted and has fashioned quite the teaching career, the last two years of which have been as the Technology Education teacher at Delone Catholic High School. “Most of my family thought that I would be working in the mill (for my life),” Goeres said. “I was considered mentally challenged. I knew that I wasn’t. I am super dyslexic, but back in the day, nobody knew what that was. I could fix stuff at a really early age, I could take stuff apart and put it back together. “What got me through was my special education classes and my strong faith in God,” Goeres continued. “My teacher… she told me, ‘you’d be a really good teacher because you’re always helping everyone else.’ No one in my family had gone to college before I did. My siblings all went after me, and they said if I could do it, anyone could. Being dyslexic was a good thing because it made me way more determined. I prayed for help. That’s one of the reasons I came to Delone Catholic was to share my religion.” The students are the better for it. Goeres is a card-carrying journeyman carpenter but has a vast knowledge of parts of many of the trades. He shares expertise in carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and soldering. He also has training in pre-engineering. If he wasn’t teaching, he’d be building things or fixing things. “I’m not a typical teacher,” Goeres explained. “I like kids to try and figure things out on their own. I see the educational side, but God made us all for different jobs. If you enjoy working with your hands, that’s a good thing. Jesus was a carpenter. How I look at it is you have to find what fits for you. I try to help kids find what they’re passionate about. If you like solving problems, you’ll make a good engineer. But if you like building things, probably the trades will be better for you.” Right now, careers in the trades are a lucrative option for people who don’t have the desire or the finances to attend a four-year college. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, enrollment in agriculture, construction, and transportation schools has increased by 40 percent. Many of those programs require one year of training at an average cost of $16,000 while a four-year college degree costs an average of $100,000. There currently are hundreds of thousands of open jobs in the trades. “A big percentage of the Baby Boomers are retiring from the trades,” Goeres said. “So there’s a lot of opportunity for welding, pipe fitters, carpenters, etc. Union jobs are where the money is, but there aren’t a lot of union jobs in this area.” Goeres said that high school graduates who can get hired by a union shop and then get enrolled in that union’s apprenticeship program can receive college credit for that and almost have enough credits for an associate’s degree after they’ve completed their apprenticeship. The average wage for a high school student who completes an apprenticeship program is between $40,000-$50,000. “There’s nothing wrong with being an electrician, a pipefitter, or a welder,” Goeres said. “But we shouldn’t quit recognizing the academic side of things. People are smart in a lot of different ways. You need to find your interests and what you’re passionate about.”
