Jun. 15—Recent Mankato East High School graduate Angeline Gessner said she knew welding and machining were in her future the moment she picked up a welding torch in class.

"I was just happy and I was in my element as I was working on the projects," she said.

Gessner, who will be attending South Central College to complete a one-year dual certification machining and welding program, said that while she could have gone right into the workforce, she wanted more experience.

She represents a growing number of students opting for different pathways out of high school.

Although Gessner is seeking additional education, that's changing for many high school graduates across the state.

Thomas Burkhardt, who also graduated from East, is among those going directly into their chosen field. He will be going to boot camp for the Marine Corps this summer, a dream that started with his family.

"Both my dad and my uncle are Marines, so they kind of put that idea in my head that I wanted to be a Marine," he said.

Burkhardt said the boot camp program starts paying its participants as soon as their active duty begins.

While Burkhardt said he considered a biomed degree during his early years of high school, becoming a Marine has been the ultimate goal.

"Ever since I was little, I always wanted to be like my dad and follow in his footsteps."

His program starts at the end of the month in San Diego, and Burkhardt said he is looking to become a radio operator.

While the number of Minnesota high school graduates going to college has decreased between 2016 and 2020, the number of graduates going directly into the workforce has held steady since 2015, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

In 2020, 62% of Minnesota high school graduates attended college, down from 69% in 2016. Meanwhile, 23% to 24% of students continued to go directly into the workforce.

The data comes from the Minnesota Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System, which measures student data from pre-kindergarten through completion of post-secondary education and into the workforce.

MDE Assistant Commissioner Angela Mansfield said she's seen a lot of students looking for different pathways toward their careers.

"What that offers them is a pathway straight from high school into a career that offers them that opportunity to get to work right away," she said. "A lot of our high schools are really paving that way for our young students."

She said money could play a role in the numbers.

But for those like Gessner still going to college but choosing a non-four-year-path, jobs out of programs like hers are in demand and are drawing interest from students.

At SCC, program opportunities range from certificates that can be earned in a semester to one- and two-year options.

Laura Attenberger, vice president of academic affairs at SCC, said the highest demand fields based on the regional workforce are agriculture, manufacturing and health care.

Attenberger said as the school's nursing program continues to be one of their largest programs at the college, the mechatronics and welding programs are also popular.

Attenberger said awareness helps increase interest in fields like those that are in demand.

"So for the last several years SCC has done a lot of career exploration programs and that is to provide students with an awareness of all of what we call career and technical education programs, what all of those are about," she said.

Mansfield said she's also seen a growing number of opportunities for students to gain experience while still in school.

"The partnership between leadership within our schools and the district setting to search out partnership between local industries and set up those opportunities for those students, you see it during the school day but then opportunities where students are able to get apprenticeship opportunities before they're graduating," she said.

Gessner said the classes she took in high school will help her along the next step of her journey. As for after SCC, she's still trying to decide.

"I have looked into the idea of being a journeyman and traveling around. I'll just see wherever it takes me as I move farther along," she said.