Alexis Majors is the first student to take part in Jefferson College’s new apprenticeship program for those seeking careers in the manufacturing field.
Majors, 20, of Fletcher said she sees a bright future in welding and believes the college’s apprenticeship program will help her succeed in the field.
The program is part of the Missouri Southeastern Partnership for Workforce initiative funded by a $3.99 million Apprenticeship Building America Round 2 grant. The program previously helped students with apprenticeships in teacher education and health care fields.
MoSEPWork is a consortium of southeast Missouri community colleges and four-year institutions working to expand workforce opportunities through innovative, employer-aligned training models.
Majors is in her second year at Jefferson College and expects to complete her associate degree in applied science in May 2026.
She graduated from Grandview High School, where her interest in welding began.
“My shop teacher in high school, she was teaching welding,” Majors said. “It was a shop class, and welding was a part of the class. I definitely feel like I had natural talent from day one. I’ve been doing it five years now.”
As a high school student, she took metal fabrication classes for two years through Jefferson College’s Area Technical School program before enrolling in college classes.
“(ATS classes) really showed me I wanted to be in welding the rest of my career, until I retire,” she said. “It’s going to sound weird, but it’s peaceful. It’s a very peaceful thing to do. A lot of people can get angry or think of it as just another paying job. But, I find peace out of it. It’s kind of soothing. Because, if you’re just doing your own thing, no one can bother you.”
As a participant in the apprenticeship program, Majors attends classes at Jefferson College and works at Leonardo DRS, a manufacturing company in High Ridge.
“I get up at 4 a.m. and go to Leonardo,” she said. “I work for seven hours. I then come to the college for classes. I have different hours (of class time) on different days of the week.”
She receives a paycheck for her work at Leonardo DRS and is considered one of the company’s employees.
Dino Fejzic, senior human resources manager for the company, said Majors’ supervisor at Leonardo DRS has been impressed with her work.
“Based on the feedback I’ve received from the supervisor, she’s really done good,” Fejzic said. He said his company has been working with Jefferson College to develop the new apprenticeship program.
“We started the work with Jefferson College sometime last year, defining the program, what that’s going to look like,” Fejzic said. “We were working out the course itself, the curriculum that’s required, then bringing it back to our business and seeing if we could accommodate the program and what that would look like.”
He said Leonardo DRS needs trained welders like Majors.
“We are a government contractor for the U.S. Navy, and we are in the business of heat, heat transfer solutions and refrigeration,” he said. “Our primary customer is the U.S. Navy, and we also do support a commercial segment, as well – 10 percent of our revenue is from the commercial segment. These are your air handling units for hospitals, schools, power plants.
“(Other) equipment we manufacture at the High Ridge facility will ultimately end up on carriers, destroyers and submarines.”
Fejzic said the apprenticeship program will benefit both Leonardo DRS and the students enrolled in the program.
“We became interested because of a couple things,” he said. “There’s our continued relationship and partnership with Jefferson College and expanding our presence in the local communities. And, assembly, brazing and welding jobs are tough to fill. We saw an opportunity to tap the talented pipeline of students who are studying in those areas. And, we want to be competitive in the market.”
Fejzic said Majors is just the first of the manufacturing students to be trained in the Jefferson College program who will work at Leonardo DRS.
“We started with one (Majors) who will graduate in 2026,” he said. “So, she started in the program in ’25. In ’26, I think the outlook would be for us to add up to five more.”
From left are Maryanne Angliongto, associate dean of math, physics and technology; Samantha Roberson, MoSEPWork grant lead; Lucas Carter, welding instructor; Majors and Dino Fejzic, Leonardo DRS senior human resources manager.
Maryanne Angliongto, Jefferson College associate dean of math, physics and technology, said she, too, sees the value of the apprenticeship program.
“I think when students come to college, they don’t necessarily know how to get a job; they don’t have the interview skills, and they don’t necessarily have the confidence, even after their training,” Angliongto said. “A lot of them don’t have the interpersonal skills right away to land that first job. So, with the apprenticeship, one of the things that it does is create a pathway to get into the industry they want to work in.”
Samantha Roberson, the MoSEPWork grant lead at Jefferson College, said Majors is the first Jefferson College student going into manufacturing, but many other students in teacher education and health care have benefited since the college received its grant for the apprenticeship program in July 2024.
“It has been gradual as we have built employer relationships,” Roberson said. “We have served more than 60 students (in the program),” Roberson said. “We currently have 29 registered apprentices across our programs.”
She said she is talking to other manufacturing businesses about getting them involved in the college’s apprenticeship program, but thus far the college only has an agreement with Leonardo DRS.
“We are in development conversations with several manufacturing employers,” Roberson said.
She said it is important to remember that an apprenticeship is a paid position.
“People sometimes mistake apprenticeship and internship,” Roberson said. “They’re very distinctly different things. They both have value. But, Alexis gets long-term employment, a paid job that (Leonardo DRS) needed filled, plus the training she gets at the college. So, it benefits the apprentice, it benefits the company because they get the workforce they need, and it benefits the college in being able to provide Alexis, our apprentice, with the necessary education to succeed in her occupation.”
Roberson said the Department of Labor grant funds the program through 2028.
She says it’s unknown if the grant will be extended.
“Apprenticeship is a very popular concept nationwide,” she said. “Both our current administration and prior administrations have demonstrated a commitment to apprenticeships, so there is enduring support.”
The other four colleges that make up the Missouri Southeast Pathways to Work Consortium include East Central College in Union, Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff and Central Methodist University in Fayette.
“That total Department of Labor grant was awarded to the consortium of five schools,” Roberson said. “So, each school has a different piece of that overall budget. Jefferson College’s specific budget is a little over $1 million over the four-year period of the grant.”
As the consortium lead, Jefferson College must pay for staff needed to operate the program, Roberson said.
She noted that Jefferson College offered apprenticeship programs before the Department of Labor grant arrived, but the grant money allowed the school to expand its apprenticeship efforts.
Majors said she appreciates how the program has helped her.
“The apprenticeship shows me what the real world is, versus college,” she said. “Some people think of it as a culture shock. But, for me, I wake up at 4 o’clock in the morning every day. I go to work. I come here. I do it all over again.”