Apprentice Learning seeks general operating support to provide hands-on career skills and knowledge to underserved middle school students in five partner schools in the Boston Public School system. Using classroom-based lessons and a hands-on workplace apprenticeship, seventh and eighth graders learn and practice essential professional skills. Following their apprenticeship, interested students and families receive extensive support landing a paying summer job after eighth grade. Research shows that teen employment is linked to improved employment and earnings outcomes later in life, and that ninth grade is a critical predictor of high school completion. AL is one of the few nonprofits providing career education experiences to middle school students in order to build positive habits and skills at a time when they are most at-risk for disengaging from school.