The Apprentice School


The Apprentice School is a four- or five-year apprenticeship vocational school founded and operated by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in Newport News in the U.S. state of Virginia. The school trains students for careers in the shipbuilding industry. It is not a traditional college in that it does not grant degrees — associate's degrees earned by students in the program are earned through Thomas Nelson Community College — but it does compete athletically with other small colleges.

History

The school was established on July 1, 1919 by issue of Executive Order No. 24 at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, signed by General manager Homer L. Ferguson.

Admissions

is competitive, although an exact admission rate is not known. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Monthly selection meetings are held at which all qualified applicants are considered for available openings. Offers are extended to applicants whom the admissions office determines to be best qualified for the openings available.
Successful candidates are offered both employment at Newport News Shipbuilding and enrollment at The Apprentice School. Each successful candidate will be scheduled for a medical examination that includes a substance abuse screening test administered by Newport News Shipbuilding's medical department. Employment and enrollment is contingent on the results of the medical examination. Candidates to whom an offer is extended will be subject to a United States Government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information.

Academics

All apprentices are required to complete the school's "World Class Shipbuilder Curriculum" and applicable courses in the "Trade Related Education Curriculum." The curriculum gives students the opportunity to earn an associate degree from Thomas Nelson Community College or Tidewater Community College.
Apprenticeships are offered in 17 skilled trades:
Advanced programs are offered in five areas:
On April 23, 2014, a new Professional Development Program was started. Students will have the opportunity to earn a bachelor's degree in electrical and mechanical engineering through a partnership through Old Dominion University.
The Apprentice School was first awarded accreditation by the Commission on Occupational Education Institutions, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1982. In 1995, it transferred its accreditation from there to the Accrediting Commission of the Council on Occupational Education.

Campus

The school is physically located at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding. Some of the upper-level academic courses are taken at Thomas Nelson Community College and Tidewater Community College.
In December 2013, Newport News Shipbuilding officially opened up the new Apprentice School, located on Washington Avenue. The new facility tripled the available instructional space to include eight computer labs, two video teleconferencing classrooms, a physics lab and a 600-seat gymnasium.

Athletics

The Apprentice School fields six athletic teams including baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, men's golf and wrestling. Because it does not grant degrees, it is not affiliated with the NCAA or NAIA. The school competes as a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association. The Apprentice School also holds athletic affiliation in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association.
Apprentice's football team was a member of the Atlantic Central Football Conference. Since the dissolution of the conference following the 2010 season, The Apprentice School has been playing football as an unaffiliated independent team. In 2018, The Apprentice School football team joined NCFA's Mid Atlantic Conference, which is broken into East and West Division. The Apprentice School won the 2018 NCFA National Championship with a 56-14 win over Oakland University in Wheeling WV, on the campus of West Liberty University. The football program returned to an independent USCAA varsity schedule for the 2019.