Key takeaways
• The MJSA Education Foundation certified Grace Barden as the first Advanced Apprentice Graduate of its Mentor & Apprenticeship Program.
• Launched in 2023, the program features a 50-week curriculum and over 200 online resources to train bench jewelers in core industry skills.
• The program is approved by the U.S. Department of Labor as a Registered Apprenticeship Program, making participants eligible for state and federal funding support.
The MJSA Education Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Jewelers of America supporting career and training initiatives in jewelry manufacturing and design, has certified Grace Barden as the first Advanced Apprentice Graduate of the MJSA Mentor & Apprenticeship Program.
Launched in 2023 to help professional jewelers bring on and train bench workers, the program offers a 50-week curriculum and more than 200 online videos and resources covering core bench skills, casting, and CAD/CAM, among other areas. Barden apprenticed at Jost Jewelers in West Allis, Wisconsin, while also pursuing her BFA in jewelry and metalsmithing from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She graduated in May and now works as a bench jeweler at Heidi Lowe Gallery in Lewes, Delaware.
“The [MJSA] program is mapped out well; it gave me the ability to pinpoint what I needed help with,” she says. “I feel like I’ve gained a lot in my professional and technical development, and a lot of confidence in my own work.”
The U.S. Department of Labor also approves the program as a Registered Apprenticeship Program, which makes participants eligible for potential state and federal funding through available grants, tax credits and tuition support.
To become certified, each apprentice must complete 18 specified projects, ranging from pierced earrings to stone-set rings to 3-D printed models.
“The projects hit a lot of fundamental techniques that every bench jeweler should know,” Barden says. “It was really helpful to start out with projects that are more simple, like the pierced earrings, and then work my way up and see how the skills can transform and develop. I found the program really straightforward, with clear goals—someone who’s never worked with metals before could come in off the street, follow [the curriculum], and learn so many things.”
Barden also found the MJSA program helpful with securing her new job, which was originally supposed to be a three-month internship. “I mentioned I was doing this program [and] explained everything I was learning,” Barden says, “and I was hired on as a bench jeweler rather than an intern, just because I came in with more skills and [a certification] that says I have those skills.”
To learn more about the MJSA Mentor & Apprenticeship Program and receive a free training kit, contact Rich Youmans, the Foundation’s executive director, at 1-800-223-0673, ext. 8073, rich.youmans@mjsa.org. To learn more about MJSA and the MJSA Education Foundation, go to MJSA.org
