PROGRAMS
At Harmel, integration is the name of the game. Far from offering simply “a program,” Harmel offers a path to form the whole person: mind, body, and soul. Our community and curriculum are designed as an integrated whole to form an integrated man.
More Than a Trade School
At Harmel, a young man is trained in the skilled trades, schooled in a robust humanities curriculum, formed spiritually through a life of common prayer, and prepared for excellence by living in an intentional community.
LEARN. EARN. DISCERN. LAUNCH.
how it works
Build toward a career
Harmel Academy offers pathways toward skilled trades journeyman’s cards. This is a credential offered by national and state governing bodies that allows tradesmen to exercise their craft at an authoritative level. This path is forged through an apprenticeship program which is governed by an employer. Typical apprenticeships require a combination of related technical instruction (RTI) hours and on-the-job learning (OTJ) hours.
It is possible to work in the trades without a journeyman’s card, but the study and experience gained through an apprenticeship program opens up more career possibilities, more leadership opportunities, and bigger paychecks. Students do not become journeyman at Harmel, they become men on their journey– master and commander of their grand adventure with Christ.
At Harmel, a young man is trained in the skilled trades. He is also schooled in a robust humanities curriculum, formed spiritually through a life of common prayer, and prepared for excellence by living in an intentional community. Harmel Academy offers an integrated curriculum in the tactical, intellectual, spiritual, and relational formation of a young man that is ready to launch.
Two Years. real work. real men.
Year 1
Foundations
Nunc Coepi “and now I begin, again”
Foundations offers all incoming students a rhythm of life and an introduction to various different skilled trades while building a strong foundation of practical knowledge, discipline, and purpose. Alongside the trades coursework, the curriculum includes formation in philosophy, theology, and anthropology, as well as service, stewardship, prayer life, and math for tradesmen. Students work off campus 2-3 days per week and attend classes 2 days a week while living in community on campus together with other men aspiring to grow in holiness and practical skill.
Foundations topics:
- Automotive/Predictive and Preventative Maintenance
- Basic Electricity
- Basic Safety
- Basic Welding
- Blueprint Reading, Schematics, and Computer-Aided Drafting
- Introduction to Carpentry and Home Maintenance
- Introduction to Computers/Workplace Communication
- Introduction to Construction
- Introduction to HVAC and Plumbing
- Introduction to Small Engines
- Machine Tool Operations
- Math for Tradesmen
- Work as Service and Stewardship I & II
- God and Man at Work I & II
- Formation Seminar I & II
Throughout Foundations, the student is discerning which track he wishes to pursue, and gaining competence in mechanical maintenance and fabrication. This foundation of home, auto, and life maintenance serves a Harmel man regardless of the skilled trade track pursued in his Apprentice Year.
Year 2
Apprenticeship & Certification Tracks
Ora et Labora “pray and work”
In the second year, students build on their foundational experience by choosing a trade path that aligns with their interests and career goals. Students apply for, are hired by, and work at Harmel-vetted companies with apprenticeship programs. Apprentices typically spend 2 days a week on campus earning RTI (related technical instruction) hours and work 3 days a week in the field earning a paycheck and OTJ (on the job) hours. A deepening of communal responsibility, daily prayer, and humanities coursework accompanies the Apprenticeship year.
Harmel offers second year students pathways to careers in:
Manufacturing Trades
| Program | Track | Time at Harmel |
| Machinist | Apprenticeship Track | Combined 4 Semesters (Foundations + Machinist RTI) |
| Machine Builder/Maintenance | Apprenticeship Track | Combined 4 Semesters (Foundations + Machine Building RTI) |
| Tool & Die Moldmaker | Apprenticeship Track | Combined 4 Semesters (Foundations + Tool & Die Moldmaker RTI) |
Machinist
APPRENTICESHIP TRACK
- What is it? Precision manufacturing using advanced machinery (making things).
- What do you do? Tool, program, and manipulate machinery to create a variety of products (think producing specialty and custom connectors, flanges, engine blocks, jigs etc).
- Time at Harmel: Combined four semesters (Foundations Year + Machinist RTI)
Machine Building / Millwright
APPRENTICESHIP TRACK
- What is it? Designing and sustaining the systems behind production (building the machine that makes the things).
- What do you do? Build, integrate, optimize and maintain manufacturing machines and processes.
- Time at Harmel: Combined four semesters (Foundations Year + Machine Building RTI)
Tool & Die Moldmaker
APPRENTICESHIP TRACK
- What is it? Engineering specialty molds, tools, and dies (that manufacturing machines use to make the things)
- What do you do? Design and fabricate precision molds used in manufacturing processes such as injection molding, casting, or forming.
- Time at Harmel: Combined four semesters (Foundations Year + Tool & Die Moldmaker RTI)
Building Trades
| Program | Track | Time at Harmel |
| Electrician | Journeyman Track | Combined 8 Semesters (Foundations + Electrician RTI) |
| Builder | Builder’s License Track | Combined 4 Semesters (Foundations + Builder RTI) |
Electrician
JOURNEYMAN TRACK
- What is it? Powering and connecting modern homes, facilities, and machines with electricity
- What do you do? Read blueprints, wire home or commercial spaces, install networks and controls; estimate bids, manage projects and crews.
- Time at Harmel: Combined eight semesters (Foundations Year + Electrician RTI)
Builder
LICENSE TRACK
- What is it? Constructing, repairing, and remodeling homes or commercial buildings from conception to completion.
- What do you do? Interpret plans to coordinate subcontractors, timelines, materials, and budgets– and build structures.
- Time at Harmel: Combined four semesters (Foundations Year + Builder RTI)
Welding & Fabrication Trades
| Program | Track | Time at Harmel |
| Welding | Certification | Combined 4 Semesters (Foundations + Advanced Welding Courses) |
*RTI – Related Trade Instruction
*OJT – On the Job Training
Welding
CERTIFICATION TRACK
- What is it? Constructing and repairing metal structures and components by cutting, shaping, joining, and finishing metal materials.
- What do you do? Use a torch at high temperatures employing MIG, TIG, Arc welding techniques
- Time at Harmel: Combined four semesters (Foundations Year + Advanced Welding courses)
Ora et Labora “pray and work”
In the second year, students build on their foundational experience by choosing a trade path that aligns with their interests and career goals. Students apply for, are hired by, and work at Harmel-vetted companies with apprenticeship programs. Apprentices typically spend 2 days a week on campus earning RTI (related technical instruction) hours and work 3 days a week in the field earning a paycheck and OTJ (on the job) hours. A deepening of communal responsibility, daily prayer, and humanities coursework accompanies the Apprenticeship year.
Harmel offers second year students pathways to careers in:
Manufacturing Trades
Machinist
- What is it? Precision manufacturing using advanced machinery (making things).
- What do you do? Tool, program, and manipulate machinery to create a variety of products (think producing specialty and custom connectors, flanges, engine blocks, jigs etc).
- Time at Harmel: Combined four semesters (Foundations + Machinist RTI)
- This is an Apprenticeship track.
Building Trades
Electrician
- What is it? Powering and connecting modern homes, facilities, and machines with electricity.
- What do you do? Read blueprints, wire home or commercial spaces, install networks and controls; estimate bids, manage projects and crews.
- Time at Harmel: Combined eight semesters (Foundations + Electrician RTI).
- This is an Apprenticeship track.
Formation of the Whole person
Community
Harmel men live in households — small groups of different years and trades who share meals, leisure and the daily work of holding one another to holiness.
Prayer
Ora et labora: men pray Lauds, Vespers and Compline together daily, learning from St. Joseph that prayer is not a break from work but the soul of it.
Work
Work is good in itself — a share in God's own making of the world — so a man's trade here forms him as surely as it pays him.
Study
Great books read in a monastic key rather than an academic one, where a welder reading Flannery O'Connor is not taking a break from welding.