Neel Mehta
Huntington Ingalls Industries honored 148 graduates of the company’s Apprentice School in Newport News, Virginia, during commencement exercises held Saturday.
The company said Monday that Jennifer Boykin, president of HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, delivered a speech at the graduation ceremony.
“We are working smart every day to innovate, to rethink and reinvent the business of shipbuilding,†said Boykin.
“We are moving forward, committed to building a future focused on people and technology—not just for today’s workforce, but for our children and our children’s children,”
HII presented Gary Lee Smith II, a maintenance electrician, with its Homer L. Ferguson Award in recognition of his performance as an apprentice.
Sixty-seven apprentices of the Apprentice School’s 2017 graduating class earned honors and 77 received an associate’s or bachelor’s degree for completing an optional, advanced program.
The school accommodates up to 225 enrollees per year and offers tuition-free apprenticeships across 19 trades as well as eight optional advanced programs.
