On June 22nd, AJAC held its first virtual apprenticeship graduation ceremony for the Class of 2020 and 2021—ushering in 129 graduates across six different apprenticeship occupations.
These 129 graduates represented Washington State’s first Automation Technician and Industrial Manufacturing Technician journey-level apprentices in addition to Machinists, Tool & Die Makers, Industrial Maintenance Technicians, and Production Technicians.
The COVID-10 global pandemic fundamentally changed how we work, how we learn, and how we manage the risk to apprentices, coworkers, families and our community members. AJAC’s top priority this past year was to ensure apprentices can continue to learn, whether employed or not, while providing our instructors the ability to teach in environments that are safe, healthy and greatly reduce exposure to COVID-19.
Apprentices are hands-on learners and as an apprenticeship organization, our style of teaching reflects those needs.
If it weren’t for AJAC, I wouldn’t be where I am, making the money I am now, and I might not even have a job.
Emily Wetli, a Production Technician (Youth) graduate from Quality Stamping and Machining, shared a few words about what it meant to complete a registered apprenticeship, “Like most teenagers, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a career. If it weren’t for AJAC, I would never be in the position I am in now. Throughout my two years, I worked in four departments, ran multi-axis CNC machines, and most recently began working in the programming department. Getting to experience work life while still in high school was a great opportunity and one that I never thought was possible,” Wetli said.
“I have learned to not only love aerospace, but manufacturing as a whole. The youth apprenticeship has been extremely beneficial to my life. After graduating high school earlier this month, I was officially hired on as a full time employee. If it weren’t for AJAC, I wouldn’t be where I am, making the money I am now, and I might not even have a job. With AJAC, I have been with my company for two years, and it has been the best thing I have decided to do with my life,” Wetli added.
With the completion of AJAC’s apprenticeship, apprentices receive a nationally recognized journey-level certification signaling their hard work and perseverance. This provides them with vast opportunities as they grow in their career. The fortitude of our 129 graduates has equated to a combined nearly 5,745 college credits earned, 57,450 classroom hours and over 750,000 hours logged through their on-the-job training!
As we return to a “new normal”, we call on these apprentices to be leaders, mentors, role models and future instructors into the ever-evolving advanced manufacturing industries.
