ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — Life after high school can be complicated. One partnership between Ector County ISD, Access, local businesses and some higher education schools are working to guide students towards their desired career paths.
For Frank Alvarado, who just graduated from Permian High, he knew he wanted to get into skilled trades. Specifically, welding.
"I knew it was something that my my grandpa did, and it was something that kind of caught my interest," Alvarado said. "I saw the opportunity to be able to take the classes and I took advantage of it and I really enjoyed it.
According to Mike Mills, the executive director of Star Tech Group who owns the platform called Access, the Permian Basin has a demand for workers.
"We have more open positions than we have people," Mills said. "We also have about 5,000 students each year who are graduating throughout the Permian Basin, Midland Odessa and surrounding community and we dare say about 80% of those students have no clue what they're doing. What Access is about is fine tuning all of that, taking a very broad spectrum, bringing it down to a laser light based upon programs of study that we see with our CTE programs at Ector County ISD."
Alvarado took welding classes through the CTE program during most of his high school years, even landing a part-time job with Deep Well Services during his senior year in 2024.
On Tuesday, July 30, the company and the partners in this joint effort held an Employee Signing Celebration for Alvarado, who has now advanced to a full-time position.
"I'm blessed for it because, I feel like a lot of people they don't have that opportunity," Alvarado said. "I was one of them. Some people do when they know someone that could get them in. I didn't. When I saw that opportunity, I had to jump and it paid off for me."
During the celebration, Matthew Champ with the company's Talent Acquisition and Outreach mentioned the move marked one of the firsts for the local company.
"With Frank, originally we brought him on his part-time and then we bumped him up to full-time once he finished school, which is non-traditional for Deep Well so that says a lot about our commitment to getting the right person in the door more than anything and Frank has more than exemplified that," said Champ.
Alvarado said he sees a bright future in the choice he's made.
"I think it's very life-sustaining, the thing about Deep Well is they offer so many opportunities through advancement," Alvarado said. "They offered me to advance on the welding side, which that is my passion and I truly love that. But they also offer me opportunities to go out to the field and feel like there's also a great way to get more experience, knowledge and help build my resume... I really see it as an opportunity to make a name for myself."