Apprenticeship | The Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop

What is Apprenticeship?

The Eli Whitney Museum & Workshop produces about 80,000 projects each year. Apprentices train in the design and production of these projects throughout the school year. They also support our educators in our vacation day and summer programs for students ages 6+.

Apprentices begin training in 8th grade and typically stay in the program through their senior year of high school. Some apprentices graduate from the program and return as EWM staff in a variety of roles.

Apprenticeship encourages many passions and builds the discipline needed to excel.

Our Spring Information Session will be held on February 19 at 4PM on Zoom, please sign up through the link below to RSVP to the Information Session!

For any questions, contact Manager.

See below for How to Become an Apprentice.

What Apprentices Do
How to Become an Apprentice
Media Coverage
Life After Apprenticeship

What Apprentices Do

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Apprentices work about 200 hours during the school year and up to 400 hours in the summer.
Apprentices receive stipends. They must prove their value.
Apprentices are trained by well established designers, artisans, and artists.
All apprentices teach. They encounter children from diverse in backgrounds, experiences, and abilities.
All apprentices work in production. They master a dozen hand and power tools.
Most apprentices can set drilling fixtures to tolerance of ±.005"
Most apprentices create designs for classes and retain design copyrights.
All apprentices have participated in active experiments and discussions styles, design styles and strategies, leadership styles, and the cultural, gender, and social dynamics of design.

How to Become an Apprentice

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Apprentices are selected via a competitive application process.

The program is open to students ages 13+ who are in 8th grade and up. We have limited spaces for each grade, we generally are not able to accept apprentices who are in the 11th grade and up.

Step One- Please fill out this Spring 2023 Apprentice Info Session Sign-Up We will then send you an invitation to a mandatory information session when we set the date. NOTE: School emails often are blocked to outside institutions, if your child does not have a personal email, please create one for the application process.

Step Two- Attend a mandatory information session with other prospective Apprentices and their families. These are hosted in the Fall and the Spring. If you miss one info session, you will be directed to the next.

Step Three- Complete the application after the information session. The application will only be released to those who attend.

Step Four- Complete two weekend trial shifts at the Museum. This is your chance to see if the program is right for you.

Step Five- We want to know who you are. We do this through a creative challenge. You will be given materials and asked to respond to a prompt. You will present your finished work to a group of peers and staff.

Step Six- Receive your acceptance into the Apprentice Program, or receive a deferral for future application cycles. There is no limit to how many times an apprentice can apply to the program.

We look forward to hearing from you!