MAKING WAVES

BY RANDY WOODS

Tacoma Schools, Port Explore Joint Plan to Build ‘Maritime 253’ Skills Center

In a move to promote maritime industry jobs as potential career paths for students in Pierce County, the Port of Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools have formed a partnership to consider building a new maritime skills center on Port-owned land, to be called Maritime 253 (the Tacoma area code is 253).

The decision to form an interlocal agreement to develop the center came about in March, following a year-long effort by the Port and Tacoma Public Schools to attract more youth to an industry that has had trouble finding skilled workers to replace its aging workforce.

Once established, Maritime 253 will be a regional career and technical education (CTE) center, serving high school students from multiple Pierce County school districts. Students taking part will enroll in advanced CTE courses at both the skills center and in additional courses at their high schools. Courses and participation will be offered at no cost to students.

“We realized there was a natural synergy between our plan and locating the new skills center at the port would be a great fit,” said Eric Johnson, executive director of the Port of Tacoma. “Working to prepare future generations to fill jobs in the Port, maritime, and skilled trades industries is a key priority.”

A similar marine-themed educational program began on a smaller scale in South Seattle in 2021, when the Highline School District launched the Maritime High School program that NWY covered in our March 2022 issue (find it online at nwyachting.com). In the planned Tacoma project, education will be provided not in a particular high school, but in a skills center that will be open to all interested students across Pierce County’s school districts.

Details of the Maritime 253 curriculum are still being developed by maritime industry advisors, but the instruction will focus on four main pathways: skilled and technical trades; transportation and logistics; technology and innovation; and sustainability. The center will also establish programs in which students can earn professional credentials, certificates, and apprenticeships. Through these opportunities, participants can develop skills for managing goods in a global economy, including warehouse logistics, equipment operators, dock workers, and other ship-related jobs.

The next steps for the Port and the school districts will be to move to phase one of the project, which will be to begin the design-build process, involving site-condition assessments for suitable properties, issuing proposal requests for a designer and builder, and setting up a system for public involvement as the process moves forward. It’s all an effort to help support Tacoma’s marine cargo operations, which currently provides 42,000 jobs and $3 billion in labor income, according to the Port. For more details on future developments, go to: tacomaschools.org/departments/ cte/maritime-skill-center