Tesla’s apprenticeship program for Nevada high school grads helps boost Gigafactory I in Sparks

The Las Vegas Review-Journal recently ran a story about how Tesla, which is expanding its Gigafactory I in Sparks, is recruiting Nevada high school graduates to work in its factory.

The Tesla apprenticeship program, the newspaper reported, was inspired by a Tesla executive’s tour of CCSD’s Southeast Career and Technical Academy, where students were learning about and building basic robotics systems.

“I’ll never forget leaving that school and saying, ‘We need a program,’” Chris Reilly, head of workforce development and education programs at Tesla, told the Review-Journal.

“The grant from Tesla is a game changer,” Kerry Larnerd, CCSD’s director of career and technology education, told the Review-Journal. “It’s getting us into the world our kids live in.”

Larnerd told the Review-Journal that in a district where many families cannot afford to put their kids through college, technology programs can give them hands-on experience and skill sets they can use to further their own educations.