This capstone project rocks.
Three recent graduates from the USC Price School of Public Policy got the chance to work with a foundation launched by iconic rock band Metallica.
The foundation – All Within My Hands – tasked students with quantifying the return on investment for its Metallica Scholars Initiative, a program supporting trades education in 75 community colleges across the country and Guam. For the graduates, the capstone project was a chance to apply lessons from the classroom by riffing with a real-world client to complete their degrees.
The USC Price grads – Erin Barry, Hyemin Lee and Nicole Mayes – said they were motivated by the foundation’s goal of elevating the importance of trades education. Launched in 2019, the Metallica Scholars Initiative (MSI) has provided more than $13.5 million in grants for programs that train workers in trades including welding, culinary arts, firefighting, healthcare and, appropriately, metalworking.
“To see a band like Metallica target their philanthropic efforts in a way that directly helps their community is really smart and inspiring,” Barry said.
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Find Out MoreThe Master of Public Administration (MPA) graduates concluded that the return on investment (ROI) is very high across all MSI-supported programs. On average, the researchers found, MSI graduates can expect to earn 8.3 times the upfront cost of their program mid-career.
The graduates also recommended that the foundation prioritize investments in high-growth career fields, particularly in industries with anticipated strong demand for labor and high relative salaries over the next decade. Those industries include information security, robotics and air traffic control.
“The trades are not a monolith,” Barry noted. “I think many people have this picture that the ROI of a welder, for example, is probably going to be the same everywhere. And that’s not the case. There are areas where those jobs are growing, and there are areas where those jobs are shrinking. We looked at not just ROI, but the outlook for some of these careers.”
“The research conducted by USC Price is invaluable insight that helped quantify the value of supporting and expanding the trades, specifically within the Metallica Scholars Initiative,” said Peter Delgrosso, the Executive Director at All Within My Hands. “Clearly, there is a significant return on investment to supporting the trades because it’s a low-cost and highly effective means to put people from all walks of life onto the path to high wages and a stable career. We have been looking for this sort of empirical evidence since we started the program, and with the help of these hard-working USC students, we finally got there. We couldn’t be any happier at the results, and we really enjoyed working with Erin, Hyemin and Nicole. They are all extremely sharp and thoughtful and took on a big task with excitement.”
“To see a band like Metallica target their philanthropic efforts in a way that directly helps their community is really smart and inspiring.”
Erin Barry
The capstone project provided relevant work experience, especially to Barry and Mayes, who now work in consulting. The graduates had to answer research questions, deliver a final work product, and manage a relationship with a client, much like a consultancy.
Working for Metallica, even indirectly, made for a memorable final project at the USC Price School too. With a popular rock band as a client, Mayes said it made talking to friends and family about her college experience more meaningful and impactful.
“People understood that I was working with Metallica,” Mayes said. “I think it gave some credence to my graduate program, to USC, to the type of work that we do now as MPAs.”
And Metallica may gain a few fans in the process.
“Pete was a pleasure to work with, and he did say that if we want Metallica concert tickets, to hit him up,” Mayes said. “Maybe we’ll take him up on that.”
