Fired Up Podcast: A Trade Collective Production

Fired Up Podcast: A Trade Collective Production Welcome to the Fired Up Podcast, a local production focused on the Evanston community and the approximately 10 mile radius surrounding it. This show is a dedicated space for the conversations that matter most to our local students, families and businesses. We are exploring how to bridge the gap between high school education and the high paying, dignified careers waiting in the skilled trades. For too long, our community has looked elsewhere for talent while our own students navigated uncertain paths after graduation. We are here to change that narrative. Hosted by Patrick Hughes and Dr. Pete Bavis, this podcast brings together parents, industry leaders, and educators to explore what it actually means to be trade ready in the modern workforce. What to expect on the show: Industry Insights : We sit down with local experts in manufacturing, automo

Fired Up Podcast: A Trade Collective Production is a education podcast hosted by The Trade Collective, with 14 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

The Trade Collective hosts Fired Up Podcast: A Trade Collective Production, a education show with 14 episodes published.

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  Episode #14

  Fired Up Podcast Ep.14 | Never Held a Pipe Wrench: Sam Gordon and Robyn Gabel

  Sep 5, 202649 minS1

  Fired Up has never had a guest introduced by his mother-in-law...or had the privilege of speaking to the Illinois House Majority Leader. Sam Gordon started his own HVAC company four months before this conversation. His mother-in-law is the Majority Leader of the Illinois House. They sat down together in the Sauce Studio to discuss how a person with no tools and no plan found a career in the skilled trades, and what needs to change for more young people to access to similar careers. Welcome to Episode 14 of the Fired Up Podcast, a production of The Trade Collective. Hosts Dr. Pete Bavis and Patrick Hughes sit down with Illinois House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel and Sam Gordon of Gordon HVAC Services to discuss how young people find their way into the skilled trades, and what a regional training center could do for Northern Cook County. ️ Robyn Gabel wanted to be an anthropologist; her hero was Margaret Mead. Instead, she decided to run for political office, trading writing other people's speeches for writing her own legislation. She has represented Evanston's 18th District in the Illinois House since 2010 and has served as Majority Leader since 2023. Before taking office, she ran the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition for 22 years. ️ Sam Gordon had never held a pipe wrench. But he learned thermodynamics running extraction equipment out of a trailer on a California apple orchard. With a baby on the way, he moved back to Chicago, took a couple of classes at Oakton College in Des Plaines, and got into HVAC. He credits most of what he knows to Cornelius, the trainer at Shavitz Heating and Air Conditioning, who made him do every job himself during a six week stint together seven years ago. Now he runs Gordon HVAC Services. In this episode, we discuss: When should a kid first get to experience the skilled trades? How much of HVAC is science? Who gets to teach it? What would a regional training center in Northern Cook County actually change? New episodes drop every other Thursday. Igniting the future of the skilled trades. Let's get fired up! Follow our journey on social media. Contact & Support: info@thetradecollective.org

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  Episode #13

  Fired Up Podcast Ep.13 | Putting the STEAMe in Our Engines to Inspire and Connect Our Youth

  Aug 13, 202655 minS1

  Every November, ETHS reports to the school board on their new graduates' next steps. The students who enroll in a traditional 2- or 4-year college program get counted precisely; the 25 percent of students who don’t choose a college path get missed. The answer given for these students has been that there isn’t a way to track their paths. Until now. Welcome to Episode 13 of the Fired Up Podcast, a production of The Trade Collective. On this episode, hosts Dr. Pete Bavis and Patrick Hughes sit down with Rachel Kohler and Dr. Nichole Pinkard to discuss a system to track workforce development and training to career opportunities called STEAMe. STEAMe is being built to track an ETHS graduate’s progress toward career opportunities on the local level. Those students who do not choose a traditional college path will no longer fall through the cracks. They will be caught by STEAMe. Rachel Kohler and Dr. Nichole Pinkard talk to The Trade Collective about where these young people end up and who is helping them find a career path. The work is funded by The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Family Foundation and anchored by Northwestern University, with The Trade Collective serving as a partner. This conversation highlights the need for the Evanston community to embrace more than one pathway to future success for young adults. ️ Rachel Kohler grew up in a family business that makes toilets and sinks, and she has heard every joke about it. Her father, Herb Kohler, spent most of his life in service to the building industry, and one of his last acts was funding the Skilled Labor Fund at the National Housing Endowment, , which supports organizations like The Trade Collective. Rachel is co-founder and CEO of STEAMe, the Chicago technology company building the digital and data infrastructure for community workforce systems. Before STEAMe she was CEO and co-owner of NowPow, which reached 13 states and made 11 million social care referrals before its sale in 2021. ️ Nichole Pinkard was a rising ETHS senior who had a first-hand opportunity to see how kids perceive their options during a field trip to Chicago’s south side. On the way back, someone asked the group a question she has carried ever since: would you be on this bus if you perceived your opportunities differently? She wants all of our graduates to see the thousands of opportunities that exist locally. Dr. Pinkard is the Alice Hamilton Professor of Learning Sciences at Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy, co-founder and Chief Systems Officer at STEAMe, and president of the District 65 school board. She also co-owns Free Flow Kitchen on Simpson Street, which she describes as the Evanston Fifth Ward’s version of Cheers. In this episode, we discuss: What happens to ETHS graduates who do not choose the traditional college path? Who is responsible for knowing? More than 1,300 skilled trades jobs sit within ten miles of Evanston, most of them paying $75,000 and up. What changes when a high school sophomore learns about these opportunities and is connected with the people to get them there?. Eight out of ten certificates students earn in work-based learning don't connect to an actual job. How do you create viable programs to connect graduates to local openings? New episodes drop every other Thursday. Igniting the future of the skilled trades. Let's get fired up! Follow our journey on social media. Contact & Support: info@thetradecollective.org

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  Episode #11

  A Path to More Than Cutting Grass | Fired Up Podcast Ep. 11

  Jun 23, 202641 minS1

  Commercial landscaping has both a staffing and a perception problem. - 600 positions are open right now within a 10 mile radius of Evanston, and most people still think the job is just cutting grass. Episode 11 goes inside that gap. We find out what commercial landscaping actually looks like from the inside, why the industry is struggling to find people, and what a five-week course at Oakton College could mean for someone ready to get started. Welcome to Episode 11 of the Fired Up Podcast, a production of The Trade Collective. Hosts Dr. Pete Bavis and Patrick Hughes sit down with Jamie Wallace from BrightView and Leah Kittner from Oakton College to talk commercial landscaping, workforce development, and a new Landscape Technician program where participants leave equipped for entry-level technician roles in landscape maintenance. Meet The Guests: 🎙️ Jamie Wallace: Jamie started as an operator and spent the next 40 years working through estimating, project management, branch management, and sales in the construction and landscape industry. He now leads business development and recruiting at BrightView, the world's largest commercial landscape company, with crews working on projects across the country including SoFi Stadium and the Pentagon Memorial. He came to The Trade Collective about two years ago because the industry has a staffing problem, and he wanted to be part of solving it. 🎙️ Leah Kintner: Leah is the Senior Program Developer for Workforce and Community Education at Oakton College. She's an ETHS grad and spends her time building fast, nimble non-credit programs that connect people to industries that are actively hiring. The Landscape Technician course is one of the newest, developed in direct collaboration with BrightView after Leah and Jamie first connected at The Trade Collective. In this episode, we discuss: 🔥 Why commercial landscaping is one of the most misunderstood fields in the skilled trades, and what the work actually looks like beyond the lawn mower 🔥 What a $468 certificate opens up, from field labor to estimating to running your own business entirely 🔥 How Oakton and BrightView built this course from scratch, and what the 10 available seats could mean for someone in the Chicagoland area right now The Landscape Technician course starts July 8th . Space is currently available and scholarship and stipends exist. Active recruitment is included in the course. Register here: https://ce.oakton.edu/search/publicCourseSearchDetails.do?method=load&courseId=10990448 Join the Movement: New episodes drop every other Thursday. Stay tuned and make sure you are following so you never miss an episode. Follow our journey on social media! Contact & Support: General Inquiries: info@thetradecollective.org Igniting the future of the skilled trades. Let's get fired up! 🔥

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  Episode #10

  Fired Up Podcast Ep.10 | Building From the Ground Up: Two Young Carpenters take on Ryan Field

  Jun 12, 202655 minS1

  We have talked a lot about getting the next generation into the skilled trades. This episode, you hear it straight from two young people who are doing it, on one of the biggest construction sites in the area. Welcome to Episode 10 of the Fired Up Podcast, a production of The Trade Collective. Hosts Dr. Pete Bavis and Patrick Hughes sit down with Quintin Hamilton Jr. and Anthony Medina, two carpenter apprentices from Evanston who found their way into Local 58 through The Trade Collective. Quintin tells his story from a scattered start after high school to writing his name on a stud inside Ryan Field. He talks about the years he spent figuring things out, the connection that finally opened the door, and what it feels like to wake up ready to go to work. Meet The Guests: 🎙️ Quintin Hamilton Jr.: Quintin grew up in Evanston and graduated in 2020, the year of remote learning and COVID shut downs. His dad was a plumber in Local 130 and his coach growing up. After a few years of false starts, a connection through his girlfriend's mom brought him to The Trade Collective. Now he is a carpenter apprentice with Local 58, framing the hydrotherapy pools and the family-friendly Mothers Room”at the new Ryan Field. 🎙️ Anthony Medina: Anthony is 20, grew up in Evanston, and graduated from Evanston Township High School. He ran his own junk removal business before a community connection named Genaro pointed him toward Hire360 and The Trade Collective. He got the acceptance text with the confetti, joined Local 58, and has been working on the Kellogg Building at Northwestern. In this episode, we discuss: 🔥 How do you go from no direction after high school to a union apprenticeship and a career with benefits? 🔥 What does the job site teach a young person that a classroom never could? 🔥 What would these two say to a seventh grader, a freshman, and a parent who is not sure about this path? Join the Movement: New episodes drop every other Thursday, and we just moved to Thursdays! Stay tuned and make sure you are following so you never miss an episode. Follow our journey on social media! Contact & Support: General Inquiries: info@thetradecollective.org Igniting the future of the skilled trades. Let's get fired up! 🔥

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  Episode #9

  Fired Up Podcast Ep.9 | Paid to Learn: How Abt Electronics Builds Careers From the Ground Up

  May 28, 202651 minS1

  <p>We have talked a lot about getting the next generation into the skilled trades. In this episode we are thrilled to hear from a young person at the start of a promising career about his journey to Abt Electronics and what it is like to be young and finding your path into the skilled trades.<br/><br/>Welcome to Episode 9 of the Fired Up Podcast, a production of The Trade Collective. Hosts Dr. Pete Bavis and Patrick Hughes sit down with Stefan Johnson and Josh Eddy from Abt Electronics.<br/><br/>Josh tells his story from high school to...

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