Bonanza Junior/Senior High School is embarking on a transformative journey with the introduction of a two-year pre-apprenticeship training program in construction and carpentry.

The school — bolstered by nearly $500,000 in grants from the Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) and Oregon Department of Education (ODE) — is set to revitalize its shop and equip students with essential skills for future employment.

Why Bonanza, Why Now

Principal Jordan Osborn highlighted that over 60% of Bonanza's senior class has expressed interest in the skilled trades.

Recognizing the students' aspirations, Osborn emphasized the crucial need for high-school training to facilitate their entry into these professions.

The program aims to be life-changing for Bonanza students — providing them with the necessary skills and opportunities to enter the workforce immediately after graduation, or to enter formal apprenticeships at an accelerated pace.

What the Two-Year Program Delivers

The graduates of this two-year program receive a pre-apprenticeship certificate — a valuable asset for entering the skilled trades.

The certificate signals to employers and to apprenticeship-program coordinators that the student has:

  • Foundational construction skills — measuring, layout, safe tool use
  • Carpentry fundamentals — framing, finish work, basic structural understanding
  • Shop and jobsite safety knowledge
  • Math and reading-plan competency specific to construction
  • Work-readiness skills — showing up on time, taking direction, working with a crew

That stack of competencies is what turns a high-school graduate from a "willing learner" into a candidate worth hiring or sponsoring into an apprenticeship.

Investing in Facilities and Staff

To support this initiative, Bonanza has hired a construction and agriculture mechanics teacher and already commenced its first pre-apprenticeship class this fall.

Plans are in place to offer three additional classes starting in September 2024 under a state-registered program.

The grant funding is also being used to revitalize the school shop — equipment upgrades, safety improvements, and the kind of facility investment that lets students actually do real construction work in a school setting.

The Broader Grant Picture

These grants total $1.4 million over the last two years — reflecting Bonanza's success at competing for state-level career and technical education funding.

That's not small for a rural Klamath County high school. It exemplifies Bonanza's commitment to providing quality education and fostering practical skills among its students — and reflects the increasing recognition at the state level that the skilled trades need real high-school pipeline programs.

Mandatory Participation Coming

Anticipating an enrollment of 35 students in the coming year, Bonanza High School will make it mandatory for all students to take an introductory construction and carpentry course.

That's a meaningful move. Even students who don't ultimately pursue trades careers benefit from:

  • Basic home-maintenance literacy — every adult should know how to handle a few basic repairs
  • Spatial reasoning and hands-on problem-solving — skills that transfer to many careers
  • Exposure to skilled-trades work as a real career path, not a fallback option
  • Math made tangible — geometry, fractions, and ratios come to life when you're cutting a board

Why This Matters for the Basin

The Klamath Basin's economy is built in significant part on the skilled trades — construction, agriculture, logging, manufacturing, automotive, HVAC, electrical.

Those industries need a steady pipeline of new workers. Bonanza's program — combined with similar CTE work happening at Mazama, Henley, KU, and across KCSD — is how that pipeline gets built.

When local skilled-trades employers can hire Klamath County kids who graduated from a Klamath County school with real pre-apprenticeship credentials — that's a win for the employer, for the worker, and for the entire community.

To the Bonanza Team

To Principal Jordan Osborn, the new construction-and-agriculture mechanics teacher, the school board, the grant-writers, and every staff member who helped land $1.4 million in state funding for Bonanza students: thank you.

To the Bonanza students taking the program: you're part of something real. Show up, work hard, take it seriously — and the skills you build over the next two years will serve you for the rest of your working life.

The basin is investing in you. Don't waste it.