Interns part of 'pipeline of talent' into Sappi

Recent Cloquet high school grads Grant Nordin and Caleb Hansen are already on track to go to college for free and land jobs in the maintenance department at the Cloquet Sappi mill once they complete their coursework. The jobs would likely pay between $32 and $35 an hour to start - not bad, for a two-year degree.

Hansen and Nordin are the first two Cloquet students to take advantage of Sappi's new Minnesota Dual Training grant for advanced manufacturing from the state's Office of Higher Education, which is geared toward providing education and work-related experience. As interns, recipients will be completing on-the-job training while attending school full-time at either Lake Superior College or Northwood Technical College, former WITC, in Superior.

This is the first year the Cloquet mill has developed a dedicated program with Cloquet's career and technical education (CTE) program to recruit interns from the graduating class.

Brittany Bonk, talent manager at Sappi North America, said Sappi wants to "develop a pipeline of talent" into the mill. "The reason we developed the partnership with Cloquet High School is, first, they're local, they're in our community in which we operate. But also they have a very strong CTE program, and they have a relatively diverse student population."

Bonk explained that Sappi introduced employer overviews to high school juniors and seniors this year, followed by aptitude tests for interested students. Students were then offered the opportunity to interview. Ultimately, Nordin and Hansen were offered maintenance intern positions at the mill and entry to the pulp and paper industry.

Both young men were pretty thrilled by the opportunity in a recent interview, although still finding their feet a week into their internship.

Hansen said he had planned to be an electrician until Sappi came in. He said the idea of free or low-cost schooling made a difference in his decision.

Nordin said he's wanted to be a millwright, aka industrial maintenance technician, for a while. "This program's definitely going to help me get there," he said. "A lot of people are driving toward college or even getting a doctorate, but that's not really where I see myself."

Both interns said they prefer more hands-on work. This summer they will go through mill safety requirements, and job shadow and work with mentors who have experience in their areas of interest. Once they get into their coursework, the mill will tie that into the work they'll be doing there.

Bonk said it's been difficult to find candidates with work experience related to the background they need in the maintenance department. Sappi has hired graduates of both college programs.

The grant funding is specific to the students' educational costs - tuition and fees - not their jobs at the mill. The grant pays up to 75 percent and Sappi will contribute 25 percent of their college costs.

Hansen has been accepted into the industrial controls program at LSC and Nordin will be in the industrial maintenance technician program at Northwood. The manual machinist program at LSC is another approved degree program for the grant.

"Without the grant, we definitely won't be able to provide the same level of funding and support. So that definitely impacted the viability of the program for us," Bonk said.

Bonk said they hope to grow the maintenance intern program in the future.