High School to TradesSummer programs that teach a trade
Summer programs where a younger high school student can learn a trade by doing it — working a real job, building with a crew, or practicing a skill at a camp. There are not many, and some sit inside a specific school program. Everything here comes from the program's own pages, with the gates and the costs stated first.
Work experience
Open to any younger student
Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps — Summer Youth Crews
Run by: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) · Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania locations
Pays you — the Philadelphia crew's rate is not published.
Ages 15–18.
Six-week summer crews do paid work experience in state parks and public lands — maintaining trails and park infrastructure, with light construction. DCNR's own description: “Get paid work experience while helping the environment!” A Philadelphia crew is one of the locations DCNR names.
Trade skills
Trail maintenance, infrastructure maintenance, park maintenance, light construction.
How to follow up
Apply through the Student Conservation Association (SCA) website — DCNR's program page sends applicants there. Ask DCNR or SCA when the next crew applications open.
Sources: www.pa.gov/services/dcnr/apply-for-pennsylvania-outdoor-corp-jobs · www.pa.gov/agencies/dcnr/newsroom/shapiro-administration-expands-pennsylvania-outdoor-corps
Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia — Build-Site Volunteering
Run by: Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia · Philadelphia — active Habitat build sites
Unpaid — this is volunteering.
Ages 16 and up. Ages 16–17: no power tools, no work above 10 feet.
Volunteers work on active Habitat home builds in Philadelphia — demolition, drywall, painting, and landscaping, depending on the build phase — alongside Habitat's construction team. Tools and safety gear are provided. Build days run year-round, including summer.
Trade skills
Construction: demolition, drywall, painting, landscaping.
How to follow up
Sign up for open build days on Habitat Philadelphia's volunteer pages.
Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County — Build-Site Volunteering
Run by: Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County · Bucks County (Warminster)
Unpaid — this is volunteering.
Ages 16 and up. Ages 16–17 must volunteer with a supervising adult (21+), with no power tools and no work above 10 feet.
The same build-site model in Bucks County — real work on active home builds with the affiliate's construction team, from demolition and drywall to painting and landscaping. Build days run year-round, including summer.
Trade skills
Construction: demolition, drywall, painting, landscaping.
How to follow up
Sign up on the affiliate's volunteer page; a parent signs the waiver for minors.
Sources: www.habitatbucks.org/volunteer
Behind a school gate
These are real — but they belong to students in specific school programs. The gate is the first line of each card.
CTE Summer Employment Programs
Run by: School District of Philadelphia · Philadelphia
Only for students already enrolled in a School District of Philadelphia CTE program — and it is by invitation only. There is no public application.
Pay not published.
Grades 9–12.
Summer work-based learning in the student's own CTE field. The District's CTE programs span construction, carpentry, electrical, automotive, welding, and more than 40 other areas.
Trade skills
The student's own CTE trade.
How to follow up
Ask your CTE teacher how invitations work.
Fleet Services High School Automotive Internship
Run by: City of Philadelphia, Department of Fleet Services · Philadelphia — Fleet Services repair facilities
Only for students in their own school's automotive program. There is no public application — entry runs through the school's auto instructor.
Pays you — the hourly rate is not published.
Students who have completed their sophomore year.
A paid internship of 390 hours with the City's Department of Fleet Services, working under a mentor technician. Interns start the summer before junior year and work full-time during school breaks. The internship is the stated route into the City's full-time Automotive Apprentice job after graduation.
Trade skills
Automotive mechanical and body repair.
How to follow up
Through your school's automotive instructor.
Sources: www.phila.gov/departments/office-of-human-resources/job-specs/7F01.htm · www.phila.gov/2025-07-15-ccme-offers-power-skills-boot-camp-to-high-school-apprentices
Bright Solar Futures — High School Track
Run by: Philadelphia Energy Authority, with the School District of Philadelphia · Philadelphia — Frankford High School solar lab
Only for students enrolled in a participating School District of Philadelphia CTE program. There is no separate summer application.
Pays you — the amount is not published.
A paid, four-week summer experience in solar installation, electrical fundamentals, and weatherization, based at the solar lab at Frankford High School. Students can work toward NABCEP Associate and OSHA 10 credentials.
Trade skills
Solar installation, electrical fundamentals, weatherization, energy auditing.
How to follow up
Enroll in a participating CTE program; ask the program how its students join.
Sources: philaenergy.org/programs/job-seekers-employers/school-based-trainings · philaenergy.org/programs
Camps and classes
Every camp here has students practicing a trade skill — not sitting through talks about one.
MyWIC — Mentoring Young Women in Construction Camp
Run by: NAWIC Philadelphia Foundation · Philadelphia — Northeast and South camps, at union training centers
Free.
Girls in grades 7–12.
A hands-on construction day camp held at union training centers. Campers use real tools and equipment and build side-by-side with skilled professionals, rotating through sheet metal, laborers' work, electrical, carpentry, finishing trades, and bricklaying.
Trade skills
Sheet metal, electrical, carpentry, bricklaying, finishing trades.
How to follow up
Apply through the Students page at nawicpf.org.
Sources: www.nawicpf.org/mywic · nawicpf.org/Students
Heavy Metal Summer Experience — Philadelphia
Run by: Heavy Metal Summer Experience; hosted by Ernest D. Menold, Inc., with Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 · Philadelphia — Ernest D. Menold, Inc.
Free.
A sheet-metal camp where students work from design (BIM) through fabrication and installation, taught by working craft professionals, in 30–40 hours of hands-on instruction. Ages: HMSE's own pages do not agree on the age range, so no range is printed here — ask HMSE who the Philadelphia camp is for.
Trade skills
Sheet metal fabrication and installation.
How to follow up
Register through hmse.org for the Philadelphia camp; the location page names a contact for questions.
Sources: www.hmse.org/locations/locations/philadelphia-pa.html · www.hmse.org/campers/good-candidates-campers.html
Penn College Trades Camps
Run by: Pennsylvania College of Technology (Williamsport) · Williamsport, PA
You pay — fees below.
Grades 9–12 (most camps start at grade 10; the landscape camp starts at grade 9).
Camps at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, about three hours from Philadelphia, where students practice a trade in the college's labs. The college lists these camps and fees: Automotive Technology ($250, entering grades 10–12); Aviation Maintenance ($250, grades 10–12); Diesel Truck & Heavy Equipment ($150, grades 10–12); Non-Destructive Testing — welding and testing technology ($250, grades 10–12); and Design, Build & Grow: Landscape & Horticulture ($250, grades 9–12).
Trade skills
Automotive, aviation maintenance, diesel, welding and testing, landscape construction.
How to follow up
Register for each camp through Penn College's pre-college pages at pct.edu.
Sources: www.pct.edu/precollege · www.pct.edu/summer-camps/automotive-technology · www.pct.edu/summer-camps/diesel-truck-heavy-equipment · www.pct.edu/summer-camps/non-destructive-tech
The city's general summer jobs
C2L-PHL is the City of Philadelphia's summer jobs program for residents ages 12–24. It pays a stipend, but it is a general jobs program — it does not publish trades placements, so it is not listed above as a trades program. If any summer work will do, ask C2L-PHL directly what placements they have and when to apply.
What is not here
Programs whose organizers have not published the facts we require — who can join, and what it costs or pays — are not listed, even when they are real. If a program appears here later, it is because its organizer published those facts. Programs post their next season at different times of year; this page is re-checked as they do, and a listing whose facts change comes off until they can be verified again.
Verify with the program before you apply. · Report an error