IN THE WORKSHOP — Students at Steubenville’s College of St. Joseph the Worker progressed on a class project in the institution’s Third Street workshop. -- Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — A newly formed academic institution is taking a different approach to education, one that seeks to engage the minds and hands of students.

Located in downtown Steubenville, the College of St. Joseph the Worker identifies as the first and only “trade college” that forms students into virtuous and productive community members with a foundation in the skilled trades.

The college’s six-year program allows students to study and work as an apprentice in a trade of their choice while obtaining a bachelor of arts degree in Catholic studies. On-the-job training would enable students to graduate at or near journeyman status, with pay from full-time employment outpacing program costs and leaving them debt-free.

Twenty-nine men and two women comprise the college’s inaugural class, which commenced its first quarter of lessons in late September. Since then, students have explored vocational skills, been steeped in the Catholic intellectual tradition and been purposely integrated into the local community.

Jacob Imam, the college’s founder and a theology professor, noted on Nov. 6 the “dramatic” improvement he’s seen in students intellectually, as well as their “significant work ethic.”

“I’ve been blown away by their sincerity of faith and their sincere dedication to the life of the mind,” Imam said. “They know why they are here, and they are dedicated to that reason that drives them. … There is now a culture that is dedicated toward growing in the intellectual life. It’s overwhelming to see that, because it’s not in every college.”

The program itself begins on the college’s Steubenville campus, which is currently spread between the former Tri-State Printing building at 157 N. Third St. and the Catholic Diocese of Steubenville chancery on Washington Street. First-year students begin their liberal arts studies and broad training that covers building trades.

In year two, students would continue their classroom instruction but pick one of four trades to concentrate in: Carpentry, HVAC, plumbing or electrical. Students will begin working as laborers and apprentices on job sites and earn pay for their work.

“To earn your journeyman’s card, you need a certain number of related instruction hours. You’re in your seat, studying your trade,” Imam said. “And then you need a certain number of on-the-job training hours, and that’s when you actually get paid to train.”

For the final three years, liberal arts studies would be performed online as students return to their home state or a qualified area. On-the-job training hours would increase, with students gaining full-time employment under a member of the college’s network of partners.

“We are doing the leg work now of creating a very large craftsman network across the nation,” Imam said. “We evaluate people to be a part of that network based upon the quality of their craftsmanship and the sincerity of their faith — (whether) the Christian tradition largely influences the way they run their company.”

Imam said the college started by seeking craftsmen based in or around student’s hometowns. Students will begin on-the-job training with those craftsmen this summer, he added.

By the program’s end, students would have their bachelor’s degree, be trained in a skilled trade, be prepared for their next career steps and have paid off their student debt.

St. Joseph utilizes a curriculum designed by the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a non-profit organization established to standardize training for the U.S. construction industry.

To ensure the value of its program, St. Joseph has consulted with various local trade unions. Typically, those unions would “readily accept” the college’s curriculum, Imam said, as long as students meet a few more tangential requirements. Students are not required to join a union, as the program will see them relocated out of Steubenville after three years, though joining one is encouraged.

St. Joseph is certified by the Ohio Department of Education and ApprenticeOhio and is provisionally recognized by the Cardinal Newman Society. Imam said the college is actively seeking independent accreditation by simply functioning as it plans, allowing accreditors to evaluate its performance.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are the trade days, when first-year students are in the workshop. Mondays and Fridays see them in the classrooms, learning about history, culture, rhetoric and the Old Testament of the Bible.

Formation in the Catholic faith is integral to the college’s program, though not for exclusionary reasons. Rather, Imam said St. Joseph believes in a union between theology and manual labor. It is Christianity, he added, that uniquely recognizes the dignity of manual labor — something supposedly looked down upon as vulgar prior to Jesus taking the form of a carpenter.

“It’s like trying to drive somewhere. If you don’t know the directions or how to get there, then … you have to stop, pull over and figure out where you are,” Imam said. “And that’s what the academic portion of this is. It gives you a roadmap to figure out what life is actually for, how to truly be happy and how to build up our societies in and through families and our work.”

Chosen from 130 applicants were the college’s 31 first-year students, about a third of whom hail from the Tri-State area. Two of those first-years are Hayden Fisher of Newark, Del., and Brendan LaFave of Ann Arbor, Mich., both of whom heard about St. Joseph through the podcast “Pints with Aquinas.”

Fisher was attracted by the opportunity to have a liberal arts education and work with his hands. LaFave liked the idea of leaving debt-free, as well as student life that combined work, study and prayer.

The two, who live communally with nine other students in a North Fourth Street student residence, take classes together and undertake projects. They’ve constructed their own bench so far and are working on a table for the local library. Students have access to quality equipment, complimentary lumber and instruction from college President Mike Sullivan.

“The classes have been tremendous,” said LaFave, who aspires to open his own contracting business and start a family. “I’m not just being told what to think but really being taught how to think about things so that I can take these methods of thought and apply them to the problems I deal with in my own life.”

Aiming to be a carpenter, Fisher said he appreciates the college’s intentional integration in Steubenville. Having shops, events, church and classes all within walking distance makes the environment feel ” “like a natural community.”

Ensuring the college is not “bubbled off from the rest of society” is a priority as St. Joseph expands, Imam said, noting that the college weaves students into the community and encourages them to give back as part of their formation.

As for that expansion, St. Joseph is preparing to welcome its second, larger class next fall and is developing new student housing to accommodate it. Additionally, the college is renovating the former federal courthouse and post office at the corner of Fourth and Washington streets into its new Gylys Academic Building.

“We’ll be preparing beautiful classrooms over the course of the winter and spring to welcome the next class,” Imam said. “We’re trying to make the building as beautiful as the truths that we’ll teach within it.”