b'TRAINING & EDUCATIONTile apprentice program starts its second year of successBy Avia Haynes, NTCA Director of Marketing & CommunicationsIts been a little over a year sinceMid-Valley Tile & Design. The pro-theOregon-ColumbiaTileTradesgram is completely free to appren-Training Trust program kicked off.ticesandisfundedbyamonth-Initsfirstyear,thistileappren- lyper-studentfeepaidbyco-op ticeshipprogramhasfacedchal- members. lenges,successes,andchanges,Currently,theprogramincludes but it looks forward to continuingcurriculumforaone-yearfinish-togrowtheprogramandrecruitersprogramandathree-yeartile more tile setters into the industry. settersprogramandhasappren-Forthosewhoarentfamiliarticesenrolledineach.William withtheOregon-ColumbiaTileWhite, tile and stone team leader Trades Training Trust, its a uniqueforARDEXAmericasandNTCA co-opconceptthatprovidesState Ambassador, said the appren-monthlytrainingforapprenticesticesareprogressingthrough and different levels of involvement for co-op members. Current mem- Pictured above: Apprentices are tasked bers include Hawthorne Tile, Daviswith properly centering and balanc-ing layout, then setting tile on two Solutions, Campbells Custom Tile,walls. One of the techniques they must Prestige Tile&Stone,Inc.,Levelmaster is knowing how to deal with Plane Tile & Stone, Columbia Riverinside corners so the tile layout flows Tile,ProvenzanoEnterprises,andbetween the two walls.58TileLetter | November 2019'