Page 46 - Stuff Made and Built in Delaware 2020

CARSON WATTS
Carson Watts loves working outside and with his hands, so he knew that his decision to go to school for the trades — specifically, carpentry — was
perfect for him.
“I just like to be able to see and feel what I’m doing,” he says. “No matter if I’m in a shop or in a field, as long as I can actually do the work and see the progress, [I’m good].”
After a rotation schedule his freshman year, the newly graduated senior from Sussex Tech settled on carpentry as his main focus throughout high
school. Since then, he has learned many different aspects of building.
“My sophomore year, we had modules [focused on] building a house — how to build a floor, estimating costs, how to lay out rafters,” says
Watts. With each new part of the house the students learned to build, they’d try it out in real life through a cumulative project of a shed.
Once senior year arrived, Watts was faced with a choice: a capstone project (an assignment that’s meant to showcase all
that you’ve learned throughout high school) or work-based learning. Opting for work- based learning, Watts would work at his paid
internship at Master Interiors in Milford for two weeks and then would return to school for another two weeks.
“Most kids would still work those days they had to go to school, and you only had to do bookwork. We only had reading and math [as it was] all we needed,” he says.
At his internship, Watts would participate in “commercial work,” which involved the use of steel rather than wood. He was
offered the opportunity to join Master Interiors full time — complete with a raise, a 401k, and more — but declined, as he
intended to study adventure recreational management at West Virginia Tech on an Army scholarship. Watts hopes to start his own company eventually.
Like many middle schoolers, and early high schoolers, Watts debated entering the trades compared to a
more “traditional” high school path. He recommends that those who are in the same boat consider the following: “Do you want to go to college or not? It’s
a really hard thing to pick at that age. If college is not for [you] or not [your] thing, go to trade.”
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