The Master’s Apprentice
“You don’t need to know how to pound a hammer; you just need the tools that help you through life.”
Practice
Notice young adults who may need a path toward meaningful work.
Offer your time for a mock interview, a workplace conversation, or feedback on a résumé.
Encourage businesses you know in the trades to consider becoming an employer partner with The Master’s Apprentice.
Since 2013, The Master’s Apprentice has provided young adults in Denver with the invaluable skills to take the next step toward a career in the trades. Its pre-apprenticeship program provides the context for students to build competency and character, and provides a unique opportunity for volunteers to invest in the occupational lives of others.
The Master’s Apprentice introduces students in the program to skilled trades and the possibility of earning a secure living without a four-year degree. It is an incredible resource for those from low-income backgrounds who often find the path to stable, meaningful work challenging. At the core of the program is a six-week curriculum that begins with a focus not on the tools of the trade, but on the habits that help people hold a job. It’s learning the skills of showing up on time, communicating well, managing conflict, and how to persevere through disappointment. Students receive hands-on training, professional mentoring, and career coaching with quality companies to establish their trajectory toward self-sufficiency.
The Master’s Apprentice is fueled by a dedicated core of retired or semi-retired neighbors who generously give six to ten hours a week during each six-week session. They bring decades of lived experience, but their greatest contribution is their practice of presence. Through listening, encouraging, and sharing their own well-worn wisdom, these volunteer coaches communicate to the students that they do not have to navigate adulthood alone.
A background in the trades is not required to be a coach with The Master’s Apprentice. Bob Cutillo is a retired physician who took up woodworking twenty years ago, building furniture and puzzles for grandchildren. He discovered The Master’s Apprentice and is now in his third session volunteering as a coach. “Using a skill you have to help someone else get a skill is always a good thing,” Bob shared with deep sincerity in his voice. Bob has what is needed most: the willingness to invest his life in the future of another.
The collaborative learning environment at The Master’s Apprentice is cultivated by volunteers like Bob who model humility in learning from other coaches. Bob shared his embodied wisdom with the students when he was corrected by another coach. “I am a learner as well as a teacher,” he stated humbly. “Never be too old for correction.”
This is the heart of The Master’s Apprentice: vulnerable relationships between students and volunteers, whose worlds would rarely overlap without this unique nonprofit and the connections it creates. The shared mission creates a welcoming place where cultural differences become invitations to learn. The Master’s Apprentice is a hands-on practice that is shaping the careers and character of young adults in Denver.
Visit The Master’s Apprentice to learn about applying, volunteering, or hiring graduates.
Thank you to Jude Carsten with The Master’s Apprentice and Bob Cutillo for their conversations and contributions to this article.
