Most 14 year olds in the U.S. are picking what classes to take as high school sophomores this time of year.

Walker Reese was picking the company where he wanted to launch his career.

Reese, now 19, had a huge head start on his career through a groundbreaking program: The German-inspired Georgia Consortium for Advanced Technical Training (GA CATT) starts students in Coweta County south of Atlanta as apprentices sophomore year, likely the youngest members of any apprentice program in the U.S. Other areas of Georgia are trying similar apprenticeships, just not as young as in Coweta County, where German-based companies have American plants.

By starting early, Reese finished his three-year apprenticeship as a maintenance technician as he finished high school last spring and walked into a full time job at Blickle Wheels and Casters in the city of Newnan.

“I’d consider myself much further ahead than most,” said Reese, who bought himself a new car and started renting a house soon after graduating. “One, I already have a degree. Two, I’m living on my own paying my own bills at 18…19 comfortably , and three I’ve gained knowledge and expertise that most won’t have until they’re mid to late twenties.”

“The people who waited until they were out of high school are a little behind now,” he added.

Apprenticeships — programs in which students are paid to train and work at the same time —- have been common in the U.S, for years in construction trades such as carpentry and plumbing. But apprenticeships in other fields like manufacturing have started to grow only in the last decade or so.

And apprenticeships in construction generally start after high school, which often leaves high school students in unpaid pre-apprenticeships or career technical education programs at their high schools. Even those CTE programs typically don’t fully start until junior year.

Read the full article about high school apprenticeships by Patrick O’Donnell at The 74.