Life right after high school usually means working at a low-paying job while gaining experience or taking college classes. For seniors at the Bay-Arenac Career Center, though, the outlook is a little different.
Two 2023
Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center graduates – John Ratajczak from Standish and Keagan “Five” Wardynski from Linwood – walked out of the Career Center and into multiple job offers.
Since July, the pair has been working upwards of 60 hours a week at a machine shop in Metro Detroit and taking classes at Macomb Community College. Their employer picked up rent for two months and is footing their full tuition bill at the college.
The students, who call themselves best friends, credit their Career Center instructor, Jamie Stoike, and the
Precision Machining Program for their good fortune.
“We both got pretty good at it,” Ratajczak says, adding that he learned much more than technical machining skills from Stoike. “The Career Center teaches you those (machining) skills, but the people skills that come with that too.”
Adds Wardynski: “All the skills that my teacher taught us – he taught us so much – really helped us get into a trade that we’re happy in.”
![]()
Students choose from seven trades: Precision Machining, Auto Mechanics, Building Trades, Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology, Electronics and Robotics, Engineering and Drafting, and Welding. (Photo courtesy of the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center)Stoike and Career Center Principal Brian Dufresne say it’s a two-way street. Students who work hard in high school and are willing to move out of the area have their pick of opportunities.
For those headed into the skilled trades, jobs are plentiful. Kids who took part in the skilled trades programs at the Career Center have a jump-start, Dufresne adds.
“They’ll take anybody and train them,” says Dufresne. “But you come out of here with some training, you can jump into a situation like this, where you’re not starting at the bottom, but a couple of rungs up.”
While everyone at the Career Center would like to see graduates stay in the Bay City area, they’re more focused on helping students succeed wherever they land.
“We’d love it if they would stay in the area,” says Dufresne, “but it’s the way of the world these days.”
![]()
Students choose from seven trades: Precision Machining, Auto Mechanics, Building Trades, Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology, Electronics and Robotics, Engineering and Drafting, and Welding. (Photo courtesy of the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center)Stoike says he doesn’t like to brag, but he’s had a 100% placement rate in the 25 years he’s taught in the Precision Machining program.
“Don’t get me wrong, they have to earn it,” Stoike says. But he says students who put in the work will get a placement, and he’s happy to help. Stoike adds both Ratajczak and Wardynski were at the top of their class.
The Career Center offers seven programs in the skilled trades: Precision Machining, Auto Mechanics, Building Trades, Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology, Electronics and Robotics, Engineering and Drafting, and Welding. Most of the programs are two years and each offers students hands-on training, putting them on a path toward either a certification or a journeyman classification.
Ratajczak says several of his friends in the other programs also were offered jobs as soon as they graduated from high school.
It’s not all about classes, but also networking and access to job fairs where students meet employers, says Ratajczak. The skills are essential, but “part of it was the connections.”
Ratajczak and Wardynski also participated in co-op programs through the Career Center.
“They’re not just sending you out into the world world, kind of cold,” says Ratajczak, adding, “We got the schooling experience along with the actual in-shop experience.”
As co-op students, Ratajczak says they still attended classes, but spent three days a week in a shop earning both experiences and wages. That experience paid off when they were able to earn a higher starting salary in Southeastern Michigan. The experience also led them to an industry they never would have dreamed possible, Ratajczak adds.
![]()
The 2023-24 Precision Machining program at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center is one of seven programs focused on the skilled trades. (Photo courtesy of the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center)“Our shop does aerospace,” he says. “We do stuff for Boeing, and Jeff Bezos Space Company.” They also machine parts for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, he says. “We don’t necessarily know what they’re going to, because it’s proprietary information.”
There are several open house opportunities to learn whether a career in the skilled trades is right. Stoike says they bring kids in the fourth, eighth, and 10th grades to let them see how the programs work and make the decision from there.
To learn more about the programs offered in skilled trades at the Bay-Arenac ISD Career Center, visit the school online at
https://www.baisd.net/learning/career-center/programs/ The school also offers open houses to help kids decide if any of the skilled trades are for them. In addition, students have several opportunities in elementary, middle, and high school to visit the Career Center.
Ratajczak adds he wouldn’t change a thing about his education. “If you really want to have a job straight out of Career Center, your teacher can line that up very easily.”
Wardynski also is quick to express appreciation for what he learned at the Career Center and encourages others to take advantage of the opportunity.
“It’s one of the most fantastic opportunities that they could ever have in their lifetime,” Wardynski says he tells others. “Just all the things that they can learn and achieve especially getting a job so young. I think it’s one of the best opportunities and I’m glad that I did it.”