Front row seated (L-R): Current Ace employees that are now Wiregrass students and apprentices Brandon Howell, Brandon Butler, Chason Tillman, Cole McFarland, Christopher Holder, (not pictured Andrew Caruana) Back row (L-R): Wiregrass Director of Economic Development Bill Tillman, Wiregrass President Dr. Anderson, Ace Electric employees and Wiregrass students Kathryn Moore, and Riley Phillips, Ace Electric Workforce Development Manager Nichole Shanks, Ace Electric employee and Wiregrass students Jayce Heard, and Holli Wright, Wiregrass Area Director for Academic Affairs Drew Vickers, Lowndes County Schools System Coordinator for Work-Based Learning and Youth Apprenticeship Programs Jason VanNus, Wiregrass Dean for Academic Affairs Michael Williams
Valdosta, GA – Wiregrass Georgia Technical College and Ace Electric, Inc. partnered a year ago to create the Commercial Industrial Electrical Construction Program. As part of the partnership, Ace Electric has launched a summer youth internship program and youth apprenticeship program in addition to their existing traditional apprenticeship program. With the help of Lowndes High School, Ace Electric selected nine summer interns who worked in various departments of Ace Electric during June and July. The students logged over 2800 hours combined during the summer internship. Now, seven of those students have transitioned from interns to apprentices, while the other two continue to work for Ace through Work-Based Learning. The seven youth apprentices are Work-Based Learning Students who are also dual enrolled in the Commercial Industrial Electrical Construction program at Wiregrass. They attend Lowndes High for half a day each day, attend Wiregrass for their Commercial Industrial Electrical Construction classes, and work part-time for Ace Electric.
Ace Electric also has four full-time employees from their Fabrication, Design and Engineering division enrolled in the Commercial Industrial Electrical Construction evening classes at Wiregrass. The four full-time Ace Electric employees are also registered apprentices.
High-School students that enroll in the program and chosen to participate in Work-Based Learning working for Ace, could potentially graduate high-school with only 2.5 years left of the 4-year program to earn their Journeyman Electrician credentials.
“Ace Electric believes that programs like this are essential to creating a pipeline of people joining our industry and building a future workforce for Ace Electric. Because of the success of this program and the partnership with Wiregrass Tech and Lowndes High School, we are currently developing similar partnerships in our other areas,” shared Nichole Shanks, Workforce Development Manager for Ace Electric.
