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Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) hosted commencement exercises on Saturday, April 17, 2021, for 154 graduates of the company\u2019s Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding. Due to the COVID-19 environment, and in an effort to keep all employees, staff, graduates and their guests safe, the ceremony was held outdoors at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton.<\/p>\n
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\u201cA drive-in movie-style graduation is likely not what you expected, but I think it\u2019s pretty safe to say that the past year in many ways isn\u2019t what any of us expected,\u201d said Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding.<\/p>\n
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\u201cGraduating from The Apprentice School is not an easy feat and when you couple the long hours balancing your work and your studies, along with new obstacles you faced this year, like remote learning and working with your entire family in the same area, it makes this accomplishment even more extraordinary,\u201d Boykin told the graduates. \u201cThe lessons you\u2019ve learned during the past year have molded you in a way unlike any other apprenticeship experience. The past 12 months, with all its twists and turns it\u2019s brought, have helped train you for challenges yet to come. It is your ability to adapt and your innovative spirit that will help Newport News Shipbuilding continue to thrive, and it\u2019s that spirit that will help our United States Navy be the absolute best it can be.\u201d <\/p>\n The commencement address was delivered by Howard Hoege III, president of The Mariners’ Museum and Park, in Newport News, who shared a message on leadership.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re graduating from a leadership program that puts your leadership development on par with the development of your technical competency,\u201d Hoege said. \u201cFully commit to being the best leader you can be. Fully commit to being the best servant leader that you can be, and I promise you your decision to go all in for your people will have an impact beyond what you can predict or imagine today. That\u2019s true for the teams where you serve as leaders and it\u2019s true for the impact you\u2019ll have on every single individual that you have the honor of leading.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mark Byerly received the Homer L. Ferguson Award, which recognizes the apprentice graduating with the highest honors. A nuclear test technician at the Kenneth A. Kesselring Site in Ballston Spa, New York, Byerly completed his associate degree in electrical engineering at Tidewater Community College in December 2020. He continues to work towards a bachelor\u2019s degree in electrical engineering technology and a minor in mechanical engineering technology from Old Dominion University.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In his pre-recorded remarks to graduates, Byerly discussed his many setbacks, his joining the U.S. Marines and his first job at the shipyard working as an electrician on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThe one thing I\u2019ve found, the one thing I continue to see is that we will all fail at some point \u2014 it\u2019s how you get back up and keep fighting that makes the difference,\u201d said Byerly, 32, a husband and father of two children. \u201cWhether you choose to let your failures define your life, or you use them to shape and mold you, to power through them and allow them to build you into maybe not who you wanted to be, or where you saw yourself being, but to where you are meant to be in life. Failure is inherent to life. But what\u2019s not inherent, and what takes real courage, and real strength, is standing back up after you\u2019ve been knocked down and pressing on.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Apprentice School accepts about 225 apprentices per year. The school offers four- to eight-year, tuition-free apprenticeships in 19 trades and eight optional advanced programs. Apprentices work a 40-hour week and are paid for all work, including time spent in academic classes. Through partnerships with Thomas Nelson Community College, Tidewater Community College and Old Dominion University, The Apprentice School\u2019s academic program provides the opportunity to earn associate degrees in business administration, engineering and engineering technology and bachelor\u2019s degrees in mechanical or electrical engineering.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin addresses The Apprentice School\u2019s Class of 2020 during graduation exercises at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, April 17, 2021. Also pictured, seated from left, are Latitia McCane, Howard Hoege III and Xavier Beale. Photo by Ashley Cowan\/HII<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n maritime professional<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) hosted commencement exercises on Saturday, April 17, 2021, for 154 graduates of the company\u2019s Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding. Due to the COVID-19 environment, and in an effort to keep all employees, staff, graduates and their guests safe, the ceremony was held outdoors at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[9433,1858,15290,1857,9434,322],"class_list":["post-26897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-maritime-news","tag-apprentice","tag-celebrates","tag-grads","tag-hii","tag-school","tag-shipbuilding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/26898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.al-sindbad.net\/rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Apprentice School Graduation<\/strong><\/p>\n