Read the full introduction to the series and see all featured students
Five days before graduating from Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School (Mervo) in June, Celina Ramdass walked through the truck shop at the Baltimore City Department of Transportation Fleet Maintenance Facility in East Baltimore. As she passed dumpsters, street sweepers, and construction vehicles, her colleagues waved hello and greeted her with smiles.
“Are you graduating soon?” asked fellow mechanic Keith. “The world is yours!”
Celina picked up a wrench and confidently removed a tire to check a truck’s brakes. When another co-worker asked if she was the only mechanic technician working at the facility, Celina responded, “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Celina began working at the Fleet Maintenance Facility last summer as part of the City of Baltimore’s Department of General Services’ first cohort of eight City Schools Automotive apprentices as part of the state’s Apprenticeship Maryland program. In the program, students receive a structured, work-based learning program that combines on-the-job training with related classroom instruction. It offers young people the chance to get paid while exploring career paths, developing occupational skills, and earning industry-recognized credentials while still in school, potentially leading to further education or full-time employment.
This past school year, 52 City Schools seniors worked for 11 employers throughout the city in the Career Readiness Partnership coordinated by City Schools, the Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Employment Development, and Baltimore’s Promise. Other apprenticeships were in fields such as healthcare, carpentry, electric, information technology, marketing, finance and accounting, and HVAC.
“The apprenticeship program provides an entry into the trades,” says Karen Daley, the Youth Apprenticeship Maryland Program Lead for the Mayor's Office of Employment Development. “Students like Celina receive robust one-on-one support from the time of their hire through their graduation—from their initial novice level through their skill progression. They attend quarterly workshops about what they’ll need in the workplace, such as financial literacy and transportation planning. Students are applying what they learn in CTE in a real-time setting.”
City Schools aims to ensure that all students have a work-based learning experience where high school students can engage in robust, hands-on paid opportunities to prepare them for their post-secondary pathways while building their professional networks.
Ms. Daley calls the Fleet Management apprenticeship “a model partnership, a model program”. She acknowledges the program coordinator at the Fleet Management facility—and a City Schools graduate—for creating such a meaningful opportunity for students.
Antwan Wilson attended Edmonson-Westside High School. He participated in a work-study program while a senior there and was hired as a Department of General Services mechanic when he graduated. He was quickly promoted to mechanic, lead mechanic, and then shop supervisor; he took over the facility’s training program and ran the hydraulic shop before being named Superintendent of Operations two years ago. In this role, he oversees all 13 maintenance shops with 158 employees and coordinates the apprenticeship program. Antwan effortlessly embodies the Portrait of a Graduate competency of an Effective Communicator by seamlessly navigating through several levels of service, specialty, and leadership in his career journey so far.
Mr. Wilson works with City Schools’ CTE teachers to identify students who might be interested in the fleet management apprenticeship. “I tell them to learn a craft. No one can take that from you, and you can take care of yourself.”
Employers as well as students benefit from the program. Says Ms. Daley, “Employers have scaled up to take more students as part of their talent recruitment strategy. They need to fill entry-level roles; by training students when they’re in high school, they can ‘grow their own.’”
Celina first became interested in working on vehicles when she was nine years old. She watched 
her brother repair a car that was considered totaled. “I admired that,” she remembers. “Ever since then, I've loved being around vehicles. I love being messy.” Celina’s ability to see the finished product in the midst of chaos exemplifies the Creative and Innovative Thinking competency in City School’s Portrait of a Graduate vision. She utilizes her critical and open-minded thinking to solve complex problems.
Since graduating in June, Celina is now a full-time employee in the Fleet Maintenance Facility. The apprenticeship program “taught me confidence,” she says. “I learned how to fix vehicles, but I also got experience working around people. I know that they're there for me.” She continues to strategize with her colleagues on how to improve fleet maintenance conditions for the good of the city she grew up in, no matter the obstacles residents may face.
Her colleagues agree. “She’s the real deal,” Keith calls out as Celina removes the truck tire.