Western Electrical Contractors Association, Inc.

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WECA Valedictorian Austin Schroeder2022 WECA Southern California Low Voltage Apprenticeship Valedictorian Austin Schroeder says that WECA provided a fully hands-on education due to being tasked with completing projects from start to finish and seeing them become fully operational.

“Starting a career in low voltage and joining WECA, I was unsure of what to expect or if I would even enjoy this line of work, as I was still unsure of what career path I wanted to take. I started my journey with Bergelectric here in Southern California, and shortly after was indentured with WECA as an official apprentice,” says Austin. “But WECA helped me learn more in depth all the different low voltage systems, and it has been a great experience to get to where I am now.”

During his apprenticeship, Austin cites the preparation for testing to get their licenses and to run their own work as providing an education toward several different career options such as programmer, project manager, foreman, and superintendent.

“WECA provided us with the details of different positions that go into completing a job, and which tasks they oversee. Since graduation, I have been promoted to a foreman role with Bergelectric, and am already running my own work on Naval Base Coronado [in San Diego],” says Austin.

In the future, Austin plans to move up within Bergelectric by continuing to “learn more and more” moving forward.

Austin would like to “thank my family and friends for the support along the way, which motivated me to get here, my superintendent, and of course my awesome WECA instructor Mr. P [Neil Pesarillo] for all the help along the way, making this possible.”