Encompass Credit Union donates $100,000 for teacher apprenticeships

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An electrician spends four years learning his or her trade as an apprentice. So do carpenters, pipefitters, and bricklayers. When they complete their training, these trade workers are valued for their education and expertise, all earned while working on the job.

Ivy Tech Community College in Kokomo is home to several apprenticeship programs, and it is expanding this model outside of the skilled trades arena and into a new field: education.

On Jan. 30, Ivy Tech unveiled its teacher apprenticeship program, along with a generous donation of $100,000 in scholarships from Encompass Credit Union. Ivy Tech Chancellor Ethan Heicher opened the announcement event by thanking Ivy Tech's employer partners, the area school corporations that worked on the project, and the Ivy Tech staff that created the new apprenticeship model.

"I've very proud of the work that our team here has done," said Heicher.

He also recognized Encompass Credit Union, which donated $100,000 in scholarships to help launch the program. The credit union is a long-time supporter of Ivy Tech in Kokomo, having donated repeatedly in capital projects to the extent that four separate classrooms on campus are named for the company.

Heicher explained that the investment in the teaching apprenticeship program will result in 100 paraprofessionals attaining teaching licensure over the next six years.

"This greatly increases our ability to address a significant teacher shortage in our service area," said Heicher. "We know that investing in education grows more opportunities for the community. Education is about inheriting the work of other people. Every little bit you add to someone's character, to their knowledge base, to their skills, is going to be something the next person can add onto.

“We're just building better people who are going to surround us for the rest of our lives in the communities that we live in and communities that we serve."

Matt Lambert, CEO of Encompass Credit Union, then explained that Ivy Tech holds great importance for the company.

"The heart of our mission is investing in our community," said Lambert. "That means being able to support a program like this. We can help you achieve more and get you to a point where you want to be, helping our community. I am thrilled and honoreed to be able to provide scholarships for these individuals to achieve more."

This investment directly addresses Indiana's ongoing K-12 teacher shortage, where almost 10 percent of classroom teachers statewide are teaching on emergency licenses and nearly 1,200 teaching positions remain unfilled. Ivy Tech Kokomo’s apprenticeship program offers a pathway for paraprofessionals/teacher’s aides to become certified teachers while continuing to work in their local school districts.

Nicholas Capozzoli, Executive Director of Operations, Apprenticeships, and Special Projects, explained how the new apprenticeship program came about and how it works.

"When we started this apprenticeship back in 2023, we really didn't know what to expect," said Capozzoli. "We knew the apprenticeship model and its ability to be successful for our students, but we only really knew that in the traditional sense of the word apprenticeship.

"What we didn't know was how this paraprofessional apprenticeship would become so non-traditional."

The program, federally registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, combines on-the-job training with classroom instruction. Apprentices work full-time in classrooms, attend Ivy Tech classes after their school day, and progress toward earning their bachelor’s degree in education. During the two-year apprenticeship at Ivy Tech, participants gain more than 4,320 hours of classroom experience through their work in public schools and earn 30 college credits annually.

"If you say the word 'apprentice' to most people, they're going to think of a trade occupation, like a brick layer or a carpenter or an electrician," said Capozzoli. "But few will think of the teaching apprenticeship. Why not teachers? Those bricklayers and carpenters and electricians start with a teacher. Why can't we have a model for a group of people that will make them highly specialized and highly skilled when they come out on the other end of their educational journey?"

The first cohorts of apprentices are currently studying and working in the new program, and Capozzoli proudly announced that the students are averaging a 3.74 grade point average. Between the scholarships and the ability to work in the field and gain experience while studying, Ivy Tech is removing financial barriers to careers in a field sorely in need of new teachers.

For apprentice Joe Coble, a teacher’s aide for alternative learners at Western Middle School, the paraprofessional apprenticeship program has been a chance to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher. After a career journey that included training and employment in auto repair, software development and over-the-road long-distance truck driving, Coble found his true love was teaching.

“In the classroom as a substitute teacher, I discovered a passion that I thought – because of the necessary commitment of time and money – I would never be able to live out,” Coble said. “I thought it was a pipedream that I could become a teacher, but this program has made it possible for me to seek out a new future.”

For more information about the program or partnership opportunities, contact Nick Capozzoli, executive director of Operations, Apprenticeships & Special Projects for Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Service Area, at ncapozzoli@ivytech.edu.