Electrical apprentices in the Mahoning Valley don’t spend their training learning just one part of the trade. By rotating among contractors and job sites, apprentices get exposure to different types of electrical work while building relationships with employers who could eventually hire them.
Luke Gale, Warren Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee training director, says that rotation serves two purposes.
“We try to give the students an opportunity to get a well-rounded experience and what we do is rotate students,” he says. “We’ll give them a job assignment; they’ll stay there for about a year, and then we try to rotate them to another contractor because all the contractors in the area specialize in a lot of different things, so we try to bounce them around.”
It also gives the apprentices an opportunity to work with contractors who see how they work and may want to hire the student when they finish the training.
So far, Lillian Davis, a third-year apprentice through the Warren JATC, likes all of the work she’s done through her apprenticeship.
“It’s all still kind of new to me because I’m still in my third year, but I’m always open to finding something that I want to specialize in, or just something that I feel like, okay, this is what I’m really good at,” she says.
Being a smaller local enables 573 to give apprentices a look at a bit of everything, Todd Ambrose, business manager for IBEW Local 573, says. At some big city locals, a member could work in conduit or hold wire for years. At 573, one day a worker may be bending conduit and pulling wire the next.
The Valley also lends itself to variety, Gale adds.
“We have a lot of industrial and commercial where some areas are just strictly industrial, or just strictly commercial,” he says. “We have a wide variety.”
And the program’s curriculum is changing to include more hands-on learning. Gale believes that’s a positive because it applies what apprentices are learning in class.
“Before, it’s been a lot of textbook and notebook stuff and lectures, and we’re trying to shift more into let’s try to actually get their hands on while they’re here in the training center and that way they can practice and learn here and then also in the field,” he says.
Ahren Peplow, Youngstown Electrical JATC training director, has been in that position for about 18 months. He previously worked as a journeyman and a foreman.
“I’ve always had a passion for education,” he says. “Coming up through college and everything after high school, one of my original majors was education. It’s something that has always really spoken to me.”
When he was working with apprentices and teaching them on the job, he enjoyed it.
“I instructed for a few years and this opportunity came up and it was too good to pass up,” Peplow adds.
He attributes the growth in the apprenticeship program to outreach. It’s one of his favorite parts of the job. He visits schools in the district, talking to juniors, seniors and others interested in the field about being an electrician. While a lot of people ask about the money, Peplow appreciates those with an interest in the industry. There’s a lot more a person can do besides be an electrician, he says, pointing to his own career path.
Peplow attends events such as the Skilled Trades Expo, informing young people about the trades and the apprenticeship program. Apprentices see a variety of job sites.
“We rotate once a year,” the Youngstown JATC director says. “I like to get these guys out to see because every contractor does everything a little bit differently. One contractor might specialize in hospital work and then I rotate you out. You go to another contractor who specializes in heavy industrial.”
Read the full story in the September issue of The Business Journal.
Pictured at top: Luke Gale, Warren Electrical Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee training director; Lillian Davis, a third-year apprentice; and Todd Ambrose, business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 573 in Warren, inside the center.