959 - The Apprenticeship That Saved My Life
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 7 October 2025
⏱️ 14 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
About this episode:
Apprenticeships offer the unique opportunity to earn money while learning in-demand skills—and they can be a useful public health intervention, diverting young people away from violence and poor choices. In this episode: Maryland State Senator Cory McCray opens up about his own apprenticeship experience and how earn-while-you-learn opportunities can transform young people's lives.
Guest:
Cory V. McCray is a state senator representing Maryland's 45th District. He is also an electrician, an entrepreneur, and the author of "The Apprenticeship That Saved My Life: Guidebook to Navigating the Earn-While-You-Learn Opportunity of a Lifetime".
Host:
Dr. Josh Sharfstein is distinguished professor of the practice in Health Policy and Management, a pediatrician, and former secretary of Maryland's Health Department.
Show links and related content:
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The Apprenticeship That Saved My Life: Guidebook to Navigating the Earn-While-You-Learn Opportunity of a Lifetime—Morgan James Publishing
Transcript information:
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.h.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jh.u.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.2 | It's Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:33.3 | Today, apprenticeships and their connection to public health. |
| 0:36.6 | Maryland state senator Corey McCrae is a public official with a story to tell in a new book entitled The Apprenticeship That Saved My Life. |
| 0:44.3 | He speaks with Dr. Josh Starstein about his own experience, how apprenticeships work, |
| 0:49.5 | and how they can improve the life prospects and health of young people across the country. |
| 0:55.0 | Let's listen. |
| 0:59.9 | Senator Corey McRae, it is great to have you here in public health on call. How are you doing today? |
| 1:05.6 | Josh, thanks for the opportunity. I'm really excited because I really enjoyed your book, |
| 1:12.9 | The Apprenticeship That Saved My Life. And I have to tell you, I have been hearing about apprenticeships all over the place after I read this book. It's like a whole world that is there. And suddenly my ear is tuned to it, |
| 1:20.3 | and it really matters, not only for the participants, but for the population of young people and in a way |
| 1:26.9 | for public health. So that's what we're going to talk about. But first, I know you pretty well. You're my state senator here, but I thought it would be great for you to introduce yourself to our audience. Yep. Josh, just thanks for the opportunity. Corey, born and raised in the city, son of Baltimore. I graduated from Fairmont-Hawford, So in Baltimore City high schools schools are a big deal. Fairmont-Hawford over there on Hartford and 25th, the generation before me called it Little Clifton. I went through a five-year apprenticeship program with the International Brotherhood of Electrow Workers. Entrepreneur have been purchasing homes up and down one of my main corridors in my district, Bel Air Road, since I was 20 years of age, got my |
| 2:01.2 | training wheels on the House of Delegates and currently serving in my second term in the Maryland |
| 2:04.3 | State Senate, and I would be remiss if I did not mention living overly, lived there with my wife, Demetria, who I've known since I was 17 years of age, and we're raising out four children, and Kennedy Reagan, C.J. O'Briceon. Well, it's hard to say in just a few words how much |
| 2:18.5 | you mean to Baltimore, but I can say that if people speak of you like you're a friend, even if |
| 2:24.7 | you're just their state senator. So it's really amazing what you're doing here in the city, |
| 2:30.1 | but I didn't really know that much of your story until I read this book. And I think it might be helpful |
| 2:36.2 | for you to explain a little bit |
| 2:37.8 | about the apprenticeship that save your life. |
... |
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