Working Man

Ryan Pohl is a machinist, former shop teacher, and the owner of Praeco Skills, a company that designs and delivers customized training programs for various industries. He is also the cofounder of Harmel Academy of the Trades. This is a guy with a ton of energy and insight into the challenges faced by working men, what the Church has to say about it, and how work, when approached with the right understanding, becomes an occasion of joy and creativity.

In this episode, we talk about the current state of the skilled trades, how the trades slid into something of a crisis, why the trades are set for a serious rebound, and Ryan’s experience with what he calls his “work conversion.” It’s a story that has to do with a nurse and boat motor and you’re going to want to listen.

We recorded this talk in the middle of the coronavirus  shutdown. To get a workable signal, Ryan had to phone into the interview from his truck perched on the highest point of his property. So while the audio quality may not be the best, I think you’ll find his insights and passion more than make up for it.

Harmel Academy of the Trades

Consecration to St. Joseph by Fr. Donald Calloway

Welcome to the first episode of Working Man, the official podcast of Harmel Academy of the Trades. 

Harmel Academy is a residential, Catholic trades academy that forms men in their Catholic faith while training them in a high-demand, skilled trade. For more information, please visit us at HarmelAcademy.org or you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Our guest today on this inaugural episode is Brian Black, the co-founder and president of Harmel Academy of the Trades. Before co-founding our academy, Brian spent decades in the skilled trades working as general manager of Grand River Builders in Grand Rapids, specializing in historic building restoration. He and his wife Diane homeschooled their seven children, but now that all seven are raised and out of the house, they’ve turned to their next adventure: founding the first residential, Catholic trade academy in the country.

In this episode we talk a little bit about the reasons Harmel Academy exists, what the Church has to teach us about the deep meaning of human work, and the virtues a man must have to learn to work well. This episode was recorded literally hours before the state of Michigan went into quarantine for the coronavirus pandemic, and so the audio is a little wonky. But since we can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, we’re rolling with it. I hope you enjoy it.

The music in this episode is “The Grind” by Justin Mahar,  "I’ll Follow You" by Density and Time, and "I Feel Like Partying Right Now" by Nat Keefe & BeatMower.

Welcome to Working Man, the official podcast of Harmel Academy of the Trades. Harmel Academy is a Catholic, residential trade school in Grand Rapids, MI, and our mission is to share the Catholic Church's teaching on the human enterprise of work, and to provide to the Church and to the world men of integrity, men formed in holiness and skilled in their trade, working men who stand in solidarity with one another and with Jesus Christ.

We do this through a unique blend of robust skilled trades training, job-site experience with collaborating businesses,  and academic and spiritual  formation that’s delivered through a custom-built humanities curriculum. Our inaugural program, Machine Systems and Technology, launches this fall, and future programs will include construction trades, electrician training, and more.

So even though we’re busy preparing for our first class, we’ve decided to fast track another initiative of Harmel Academy—namely, extending what we do out into the public square. And this podcast, Working Man, will be the first step in doing just that. Eventually, Harmel will host conferences, lectures, and publications of various sorts, but since so much of what we do is about taking the deep insights of the Gospel and making them practical to working men, we thought we might as well start right here, in your earbuds, as we face what is turning out to be a very interesting 2020. 

Perhaps you are a man already established in your career. Or perhaps you’re looking to change careers. Or  perhaps you’re a younger man in the middle of discerning your life’s vocation. Perhaps you’re a mom or dad looking for post-high school options for your son, or you’re a priest looking to better connect with the working men of your parish.

Regardless, Working Man will share what the Church teaches about the very human enterprise of work, to dive into centuries of prayerful insight about the essential role work plays in our human existence, to learn how Christ, in revealing man to man, teaches us, and exemplifies for us, the true meaning of our work.

We’ll be chatting with working men of all stripes — electricians, machinists, builders, designers, — as well as with theologians, philosophers, and priests— all to help set the stage for a new conversation that’s sorely needed in our world— a new conversation which is, in fact, a very old conversation, a conversation that started the day God gave man a garden to tend and a world over which to exercise his dominion.

So, there’s lots to say, and lots to learn, and we’re excited to get started. So we hope you’ll listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast app.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in learning more about Harmel Academy of the Trades, please pop over to harmelacademy.org, and poke around our website. Or reach out to us directly—you can contact me at [email protected].

Our theme music is "The Grind" by Justin Mahar.