Eastside graduates chasing dreams of vocations and trades

The day after Jose Gonzalez graduates from Futures High School in Kirkland next week, he hopes to start work in the career of his choice.

The 18-year-old from Kirkland has already landed a job with W.G. Clark. It's a Seattle construction company that will fund his three-year apprenticeship, including evening classes twice a week to learn the basics of carpentry.

After all, school hasn't always been much of a priority for Gonzalez. What he liked was being outside, working with his hands, feeling sweat on his forehead. So college wasn't something he ever wanted.

And he's not alone.

As graduation approaches at the region's high schools, many students aren't looking toward campuses and dormitories. Many are looking forward to vocational or trade schools. Or just vocations and trades.

Those students, like Gonzalez and many other teens, say it's not about settling for something less. It's about making a difference and chasing their passion.

"Our society tends to push college as the only alternative after high school," said Cal Pygott, who teaches a Construction Academy class at Bothell High School. "It's my belief everyone needs training beyond high school, but not everyone needs a four-year school."

In honor of their graduations, here are a few of their stories.

The firefighter

Monday, 18-year-old Trisha Lindstrom threw an armful of fire hose over a shoulder and hauled it toward a car that was supposed to be on fire. With a classmate bracing her back, Lindstrom aimed a stream of water at the car, focusing on the hood where -- in a real fire -- the engine would be in flames.

That's the bread-and-butter of firefighting, said Lindstrom's teacher, David Leggett, who runs fire-service classes for high-schoolers at Woodinville Fire and Life Safety Station 31 through the North East Vocational Area Cooperative (NEVAC), a consortium of nine area school districts.

Lindstrom ranked fourth out of the 46 students from Leggett's two classes, and Leggett said she is the best female student he has taught in his 10 years of teaching the course.

Lindstrom is scheduled to graduate from Woodinville High School today, and she plans to apply to several fire academies in the Puget Sound region. Eventually, she would like to come to work at Station 31 as a firefighter-paramedic.

Lindstrom said she likes helping people and she also likes being a woman in what some still think is a man's field. And she likes doing it better than the men.

"When I first started, a guy in my class said, 'I bet you can't hook up this hydrant in this time,' " Lindstom said. "I beat his time. Competition gets me motivated."

So this month, she will head to Chicago to a National Fire and Emergency Services Exploring Conference, where she and her three teammates will compete in firefighting skill events.

Aspiring businessman

Kenny Rector, 19, figured out early on that determination and a smile can take you a long way. Be friendly, work hard and don't give up, even when things look bleak, he says.

"I'm always determined to find a way to do things," Rector said.

Rector was born with fetal alcohol syndrome. And it left him with medical problems that still persist today. He has a faulty heart, and he uses a pacemaker. Doctors have told him he could need surgery.

When he was 5, Rector and his younger brother, were adopted. His adoptive mother home-schooled him until the eighth grade. Then in the ninth grade, he started public school at Issaquah High School. It was also the year his adoptive parents separated.

It would have been easy to give up, but Rector worked hard and discovered he was good with computers and technology. He also got involved with the school's DECA marketing class and learned how to design Web sites and do Power Point presentations.

He's graduating from Issaquah High on June 18.

"He's grown over the last couple of years," said Julia Bamba, assistant principal at Issaquah High. "He's taken academics more seriously, trying to improve and show he's capable of doing good work."

Rector plans to start school at Renton Technical College in the fall. He wants to take classes in advanced office skills and work toward getting a certificate through the school's business-technology department.

Someday, he hopes to open his own business. Maybe a "make-your-own" pizza place, he said.

Someday skyscrapers

When he was a freshman and sophomore at Juanita High, Jose Gonzalez admits he was a "slack off." He preferred to be outside, working with his father's landscaping business.

Books, teachers and classes didn't interest him -- until his junior year, when he saw friends filling out college applications and realized he, too, wanted to look forward to something after high school. Gonzalez transferred to Futures High School, a small alternative school on the Juanita campus. Then he heard about the Construction Academy at Bothell High School, and he signed up. It was a natural fit.

"I like to get my hands dirty," he said. "I don't like sitting in an office."

Pygott said he has watched Gonzalez become a leader and helped him find the apprenticeship.

But then, only about four weeks ago, Gonzalez almost dropped out of school. He said he thought he didn't have enough credits to graduate anyway, and the apprenticeship was waiting. He wondered whether he needed a diploma at all.

Finally, Lynn Lawrence, a staff member at Futures High, offered Gonzalez a deal. He needed a senior project to graduate. She needed help remodeling her living room. The work has paid off. He'll graduate June 14.

Someday, he says, he wants to drive by skyscrapers and say he helped to build them.

Rachel Tuinstra: 206-515-5637 or rtuinstra@seattletimes.com