ABC-SEMI Issue 1, 2019

Southeast Michigan Contractors  Issue 1 2019 15 With electricians being paid more than $70,000 a year, Stultz thought it was a better living and he wanted to get his apprenticeship training in a merit shop system. “In my opinion, I would push for going into a trade over going to college. There aren’t many places where you get four years of training while getting paid for going to school,” he said. “I know people who have four-year college degrees and wind up in the trades because they couldn’t find a job to pay for debt, they put themselves in. It’s a no-brainer.” ABC SEMI President Keith Ledbetter could not agree with Stultz more. “I think for many years, there was big push for college,” Ledbetter said. “We still need people in college, but the bad part is there are many young people who go to college and incur a tremendous amount of debt and in the end, there are no opportunities for them. If you get your apprenticeship training here you can go anywhere in the world and install, maintain and repair electrical power, communications, lighting, and control systems in homes, businesses and factories.” Third and fourth-year students complete the intensive written exam. Only the top 10 scorers move on. The 10 highest scoring students from the written test compete in the hands-on competition, held locally and known as Regional Craft Championships, and have 8 hours to complete their project using the blueprints given. The top competitor from Regional Craft Championships flies to Long Beach, CA, all expenses paid, to compete at the National Craft Championships in their trade.