Twenty members of Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School’s Frontline FAST program’s Cohort 22 delivered their capstone presentation Jan. 26. The cohort spoke to the six company values: safety, integrity, respect, performance, engagement and responsibility, and what these values mean to them now that they have completed the program.

Members of the cohort went through a 14-month program, during which they were qualified as makeup foremen. They also were required to attend six M.E.R.G.E. (Meet Explore Reflect Grow Engage) meetings, complete several online activities and meet with trusted mentors to coach them using plays from the Leaders Development Guide – which teaches the attributes of successful leaders in the company.

Each member of the cohort spent at least 40 straight hours as a makeup foreman and participated in a four-month special rotation. Cohort 22 finished their program with 5,435 collective hours on makeup, just shy of 136 weeks.

Special rotations included construction supervisors for the Steel Production Facility (SPF), Virginia-Class Submarine (VCS) Program, USS George Washington (CVN 73), USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), Enterprise (CVN 80), X11/X18 and X32 trades business offices, K45 Quality, Integrated Digital Shipbuilding (iDS), the KPX cable install group and X51 sketcher.