DEVELOPING THAT HUMAN CAPITAL.

I have long been critical of the Rockford- area television stations covering high-school sports to the near-exclusion of everything else, whether it's in sports, or in education.

I've previously griped about the nature of sports coverage on Rockford television, slightly reworded, it's like this.  "Rockford television stations would put the story of a Chicago Cub pitcher carrying a perfect game against the White Sox into the ninth inning hitting a walk-off home run [of the seventh game of the World Series] that breaks up the Sox pitcher's no-hitter behind a story involving a high school cross country team that's running in the state championship."  In the ongoing basketball playoffs, it was the Toronto Raptors, not the nearby Milwaukee Bucks, getting what little coverage there is in a year the Bulls are working on their golf, because a Rockford Auburn graduate now wears a Raptor jersey.  And senior signing day is generally a sports thing, not an academic thing.

Meanwhile, Rockford is still dealing with a twenty-year-old Money magazine "" ranking and a more recent third most miserable" from Forbes.

On the positive side, one of the stations covered a skilled trades competition a year ago, and more recently, a building trades career and apprenticeship fair.

Students, union representatives, and event coordinators all agreed that this expo does more than just land people jobs, it kick starts careers.

"You can earn a great living, you can raise a family, you can take a vacation. You're going to be able to experience things that we call the American dream," Business Representative for the Painters District Council number 30 John Penney said.

Students who join one of the 16 trade unions or five schools to train apprentices in Rockford can learn the tools of the trade for free, and union reps say they need the help.

"These students will be able to come in get that experience, get that education for zero dollars, and in this day and age with college debt continuing to climb, this is a great opportunity," Penney said.

It's all of one segment, and the regional and state bowling tournaments still rate more coverage, and yet, it's worth noting that something goes on in the high schools before the opening whistle.