Built Here: Trades That Are Hiring
A West Virginia steel mill and a Weirton battery plant are hiring now. Your student reads the real pay and job numbers, maps a path into a trade, and practices two skills every trade uses.
Nucor’s new steel mill in Mason County and Form Energy’s battery plant in Weirton are hiring now. Your student compares West Virginia trades by pay, growth, openings and AI exposure, learns why a one-year dip and a ten-year projection can both be true, researches a way in, and practices two skills every trade uses: measuring and basic electricity.
What’s inside
- Five sessions for each path, two of them hands-on labs. High school sessions run 45–60 minutes; grades 7–8 sessions run 40–45 minutes.
- Sources: BLS wages for May 2025, West Virginia 2024–34 projections from Projections Central, BLS AI-exposure ratings, and the employers’ own postings and reports.
- Labs: a tape measure, 3-4-5 squaring and a materials estimate, then Ohm’s law and why breakers trip, on batteries only.
- High school writing task: a one-page job estimate plus a one-page trade plan, with a 20-point rubric.
- A full grades 7–8 path: read a tape measure, make a scale drawing of a room, light a bulb, and interview someone who does the work.
- A materials list, safety rules, a word bank and a portfolio record.
Grades and standards
Grades 9–12, with a full grades 7–8 path. West Virginia standards: M.IMA.4, M.IMA.26, M.IMA.27, M.IMA.11, M.IMA.15, DSS.9-12.11, DSS.9-12.12, M.7.11, M.7.16, DSS.6-8.11, DSS.6-8.12.
Instant PDF download, $49. Included with a Pharos Terminal subscription.