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Governor Kim Reynolds and Lt. Governor Adam Gregg were in Pella this morning to meet with Pella High School students and graduates participating in the apprenticeship program at a roundtable discussion.

Reynolds and Gregg asked questions of apprenticeship participants currently working for Vermeer Corporation, and the pair received updates about the expansion of the program to other community businesses, including Central College, Pella Corporation, Weiler, Co-Line, and PPI. Reynolds said after the interactive event she was excited about the future of apprenticeships, and that Pella is the first non-metro community to embrace the program and set an example for the rest of Iowa.

“I’m very excited about the program, and as I told the students, I talk about this apprenticeship program all over the United States and really, around the world, and we are leading when it comes to this,” she says. “I just thought the amount of partnerships in the community working together, they really took the lead on this and did a lot of the hard work and put the playbook together. As you listen to the students…they love it, they think this is what the future of education should look like, and you could see the passion.”

Vermeer Chair Mary Andringa facilitated the discussion, and says Reynolds approached her about having a discussion with the students to better gauge the effectiveness of the program.

“This was the governor’s idea, she really wants to figure out every way to give students work-based opportunities, so it was two years ago when her staff called down here and said, ‘hey, can you help us get a registered apprenticeship program started in the Pella area?,’ so we had a team that assembled with various other companies and the career academy and various high schools that feed into the career academy, as well as the area community college, DMACC,” Andringa says. “This was her program to start with — she really wanted to see this happen, and for her then to be able to come here and really endorse it by affirming these students, affirming this is a great opportunity for not every student, but a lot of students. It was awesome to have her come here, and I know she does tell the stories across the nation.”


The following students talked to the Governor and Lt. Governor about their role with Vermeer during the meeting:

Wesley Heuschkel
Carson Reynolds
Tyler Sterk
Hunter Tooley
Rebekkah Weers
Charles VanderVelden
Landon Toom
Hunter Kephart

The full list of Career Academy of Pella apprenticeship participants: