Clovis High School teacher a finalist for national award

There’s a reason why industry employers choose students in Clovis High School’s Regional Occupation Program over their peers: they’re OSHA-certified, says Clovis High teacher John “Jay” Eichmann.

Eichmann, who teaches courses in Clovis High’s ROP, is a finalist for the CareerSafe Safety Educator of the Year award for using Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s 10-hour safety training courses in his classes. CareerSafe, an authorized online provider of the training courses, sponsors the annual contest.

OHSA sets and enforces safe and healthful working conditions for American workers and the safety training, Eichmann says, is a mandatory part of his classes.

“Within our classroom we don’t want any injuries; these are our students, our job is to protect them,” he says. Beyond that, “the training is really the mark of a professional.”

The ROP pathway prepares students for further education, training or careers in a given field. Eichmann says those who have already completed OSHA’s safety training have an edge over the competition when applying for jobs.

“Anyone who is anything in industry knows about OSHA. This applies to all industries — from mall work in Sunglass Hut to work in medical or construction fields.” Having completed OSHA certification, he says, “is the number one reason my students are chosen to be hired out of other students in their peer group.”

Employers have good reason to hire such students. According to statistics cited on CareerSafe’s website, workers between the ages of 16 and 24 have the highest rates of workplace-related injuries and violence.

“It speaks volumes to have a 17-year-old student who has credentials; it’s very impressive to see in a young person,” Eichmann says.

Originally from Wisconsin, Eichmann was stationed at Lemoore Naval Air Station as a member of the United States Navy. Following his service, he worked in the electronic systems field for nearly 20 years before switching careers to teaching in order to share his knowledge and love of the profession with a younger generation. He spent his first year teaching at Clovis East before transferring to Clovis High in 2010.

He says he “stumbled upon” the CareerSafe curriculum in his first year of teaching. Safety, he says, is one of the first things he teaches in his classes. He introduces the online CareerSafe programs into the curriculum two or three weeks into the year. Students have six months to complete the ten hours of online training, some of which is done in class and some of which is completed at home.

“They can complete it sooner, and some of them do,” he adds.

“I’m not exactly sure how I caught the attention of the organization (CareerSafe),” Eichmann says of his Educator of the Year nomination, “but I have been using it for a very long time. I have so many success stories I share openly.”

Before he was selected as a finalist, he says, CareerSafe interviewed him and assessed how he uses the curriculum and puts his students through it. Of the 12 finalists, Eichmann is the only one from the West Coast.

If chosen as Safety Edcuator of the Year, Eichmann will receive a trip to the National Career Tech Vision Conference in New Orleans and an annual ACTE membership. But the big prize is the $5,000 classroom grant the winner will receive for his or her school. If he wins, Eichmann says, the money will be used to upgrade classroom equipment and provide students with their own equipment — such as hard hats and safety glasses — to take with them as they begin their careers.

Already, says Eichmann, they take knowledge and confidence with them when they leave his classes and apply their skills to real-world jobs: “[They know] working safely is what professional workers do. I think sometimes we think the person taking the shortcut or the risk is the professional, but what they take away is that if you really want to look profesional, you work safely.

“Secondary to that would probably be the confidence in knowing they can do these tasks and, even when working in a dangerous place, can still work safely. Our end goal is to prepare our students for their future careers.”

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Clovis High School teacher a finalist for national award."