Skilled Trades Career Guide for Teens: A Decision-Making Workbook with 8 Real Apprenticeship Paths, Current Wage Data, and Step-by-Step Plans to Build a $100K+ Career Without College Debt

$100,000 by Year 5. No college debt. No guesswork. Eight Chicago teens. Eight real trades. Eight honest decisions — and the apprenticeship math that turns "maybe a trade" into a signed plan you can hand to a counselor next week.Marcus is choosing between a Target stocking job and a five-year IBEW apprenticeship. Tasha's family wants her in nursing school, but she's been helping Renée run plumbing calls every Saturday for two years. Devon failed math twice and loves refrigerant. Naomi wants to operate cranes on the Chicago skyline. Each of their stories — based on real apprentices in real Chicago locals — walks you through the same eight-element decision framework, so by Chapter 10 you're not picking blindly. You're picking with data.What's inside this 277-page workbook: 8 full trade pathways — electrician, plumber, HVAC tech, carpenter, welder, solar installer, mason, heavy equipment operatorCurrent 2025–2026 Chicago wage data verified against CISCO union scales and BLS national mediansThe 7 OSHA safety protocols every trade worker uses on every job — JHA, LOTO, PRCS, Toolbox Talks, Fall Protection, Hot Work, and TrenchingReal money math comparing apprenticeship vs warehouse work, four-year college, and pipeline travel paths in actual dollars8 decision frameworks for narrowing eight trades to your top pickA complete 4-year plan from high school graduation to journeyman card, with specific months, certifications, and people to callVector pathway maps, wage comparison charts, and a union-or-non-union decision tree built into every chapter Built for the readers who need it most: Opportunity youth ages 16–20 in alternative high schools, GED programs, and workforce hubsCTE students in traditional high schools looking for a real path after graduationParents who came up through the trades a generation ago and want to understand what's changedCounselors, CTE teachers, and workforce development professionals who need a classroom-ready decision-making toolAnyone with a college acceptance letter on the desk and a piece of them isn't sure college is the right move Why this workbook works: Most trade-career books for teens are pep talks. This one is a workbook. You'll write in it, do the math in it, fill out a four-year plan in it, and hand it to a journeyman who will recognize it as a real plan — because it is. Every wage number is sourced. Every safety protocol is OSHA-current. Every apprenticeship pathway lists the actual local union, the actual application URL, the actual fee structure.Written for teens. Readable by parents. Assignable by teachers. Designed to outlast the conversation it starts.About Skill Builders Academy: Skill Builders Academy publishes career-readiness and CTE workbooks for opportunity youth, alternative high schools, and workforce development programs. Skilled Trades Career Guide for Teens is Book 4 in the Career Futures for Teens series, written by a 20+ year veteran CTE educator working in the Auburn Gresham and Englewood neighborhoods of Chicago's South Side.Your hands are enough. This workbook shows you what to do with them. Read more