First year, second semester Commercial Electrical Apprentices in Riverside





Fifth year, second semester Commercial Electrical Apprentices in Utah





Fifth year, second semester Commercial Electrical Apprentices in Riverside





Fifth year, second semester Commercial Electrical Apprentices in Sacramento/Rancho Cordova





Third year, second semester Low Voltage Apprentices in Sacramento/Rancho Cordova

 

WECA Arizona Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship graduate Cody Cole, who works for WECA Arizona Member Contractor Corbins, recently spoke to Business Insider about his success in the WECA Arizona Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship Program and in his career with Corbins, and spotlighted the opportunities both endeavors (and the current AI boom) have created for him.

"I started in the electrical field in 2019 at 18 years old...now, seven years later, I'm a superintendent making over $40 an hour with 45 people who report to me. It's helped relieve the financial stress my wife and I have from everyday life, as we raise three kids and give them the best upbringing we can," Cody shared.

"With a career in industrial electrical work, I knew I was able to start making good money right out of high school...the AI boom also changed my perspective on my career in electrical. I've seen firsthand that there's going to continue to be a need for skilled tradesmen; at my company, Corbins, we specialize in data centers, which are going to be needed with the expansion of AI," Cody continued.

"There's a lot of job security in what we do. With the expansion of AI going at an extreme rate, there's plenty of work all over the country with these jobs. The opportunities are endless."

Read the rest of Cody's Business Insider spotlight here. To read the whole article, you may need to start a free trial or switch to reader mode in your browser.

Customize Your Electrician Trainee Program Certificate Journey with Three Ways to Take WECA's GetWired Electrician Trainee Program and Our Roadmap to an Electrician Trainee Certificate from WECA

Three Ways to Complete WECA's GetWired Electrician Trainee Program, Explained:


 

Thinking of starting your electrical journey this September?

WECA's GetWired Electrician Trainee Program offers Electrician Trainees the ultimate flexibility in their educational journeys with three different ways to complete the program -- online instructor-led with your choice of online or onsite labs, or entirely online self-paced!

Mix and match all of the approaches to design a personalized Electrician Trainee Program Certificate journey that works for you.


 

Start planning your Electrician Trainee Program Certificate journey here!

Ready to get started? Learn more about the program here.

Check Your Inboxes for Ticketing Links

Southern California



To join in the celebration of your graduation, check your email inbox for your ticketing link, and please RSVP no later than August 28, 2026.

Northern California



To join in the celebration of your graduation, check your email inbox for your ticketing link, and please RSVP no later than October 2, 2026.

Utah



To join in the celebration of your graduation, check your email inbox for your ticketing link, and please RSVP no later than September 11, 2026.
 

WECA Apprentices:

Take Advantage of SmartDollar, Your FREE Apprenticeship Benefit

$1,000 Money Challenge

Not Yet Taking Advantage of SmartDollar? Get Started Below



 

Content courtesy of SmartDollar

Much like January, September is a season for fresh starts and renewed goals.

With the $1,000 Savings Challenge, you can find extra money to put toward debt or build your savings.

---------------

Not yet signed up for SmartDollar? No worries -- getting started is easy! Learn how below.

SmartDollar is a financial wellness benefit for WECA apprentices. We announced our partnership with the Dave Ramsey-founded online financial wellness platform in January, 2021 to provide our apprentices with a sound foundation in personal finance management. This benefit is available to all WECA apprentices free of charge. Not yet signed up for SmartDollar? No worries -- scroll to the bottom of this article for instructions!

What is SmartDollar? SmartDollar is a step-by-step approach to handling money with the number-one authority in personal finance, Dave Ramsey. More than 4.5 million people have started on Dave's plan and taken control of their money, and you can too! SmartDollar will equip you to get out of debt, on a budget, and on your way to a strong financial foundation.

The average person pays off $9,405 of debt and saves $6,127 in the first twelve months, and you can too!

"This program is powerful yet simple to understand. The Baby Steps make understanding how to win with money easy! Dave's lessons are fun, informative, and incredibly encouraging. It really doesn't feel like I'm taking a financial course. It's more like learning finances from a good friend...or a financially savvy stand-up comedian! The online tools are fantastic as well, and I love being able to 'ASK DAVE' any question and do my budget online. Love it all!" - Recent participant

With SmartDollar, you'll learn how to...

• Jump-start your money
• Knock out debt
• Secure your dream home
• Retire in style
• Demystify your credit score

How does SmartDollar work? With so many ways to engage in SmartDollar activities and content, SmartDollar Points have been designed to encourage users to establish true behavior change. (Check out the graph below for a quick rundown). The greater the importance and required time of each activity, the greater the amount of points that can be earned. For example, each Core Lesson video completed is worth 250 points. Completing a shorter Deep Dive video is worth 50 points. Tracking a transaction in EveryDollar is only worth 20 points, but users are encouraged to track all their financial transactions with no points limitations. These example activities are key for building the confidence you need to reach your financial goals.






 

Taking advantage of your free financial wellness benefit, SmartDollar, is easy!

To set up your account after accessing your dashboard, click either of the links shown as highlighted in the screenshot to the right of this paragraph. You'll be taken to a page with a SmartDollar enrollment link, where you will be able to set up immediate access to this important benefit.

Ready to get started?

Login to your GOWECA dashboard

Congratulations to the 2026 Frank Vellutini Apprenticeship Scholarship Award winners, and thank you to everyone who applied for consideration!

• Cole Bolton
• Amanda Garcia
• Daniel Schultz
• Morgan Granados
• Joshua Sallee
• Aaron Bryk
• Nicholas Jordan
• Bryan Kostal
• Ryan Hamblin
• Victor Aguilar
• John Rodriguez
• Wendy Felix
• Victor Aguilar
• DeWayne Brooks
• Florin Vizauer
• Isaac Gutierrez
• Roman Renteria
• Christopher Cruz
• Alvaro Zamora
• Brandon McKane
• Jose Lopez
• Ernesto Hernandez
• Lorenzo Landin
• Carlos Vidaca
• Zachary Marshall
• Brandon Johnson

 

Watch: Lee Yang's Journey: Building a Career Through WECA's Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship Program



In the video, Lee Yang shares how WECA's Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship Program helped him launch a rewarding career in the electrical trade. Through hands-on training, classroom instruction, and the opportunity to earn while learning, he gained valuable skills, graduated debt-free, and discovered the many opportunities available in commercial electrical work. 

 

Electrician Trainees and Continuing Education students: Starting or continuing your Electrician Trainee Program or Continuing Education journeys this fall is just a click away! Instructor-led GetWired classes starting September-December are now available for online enrollment. (And of course, self-paced classes are available anytime!)

Enroll in WECA's Fall 2026 (Oct-Dec) GetWired courses here!

Snaps from Visits to WECA Facilities to Understand Unique Curriculum Needs and Opportunities; Promote Culture of Mutual Support and Innovation Through In-Person Collaboration




















 

Curriculum on Tour! These fun snaps are from recent visits that Maris Kaplan, Curriculum Development Manager, and Alyssa Bradley, Education Technology Specialist, made to WECA's San Diego, Riverside, and Fresno Training Facilities. Maris and Alyssa visited these facilities to work closely with the WECA instructors there to understand the unique needs and opportunities for curriculum at each location, and to prioritize in-person collaboration to create a culture of mutual support and innovation.

In San Diego, they met new Low Voltage Apprenticeship instructor Alex Cortez and visited with instructors Don Williams and Sebastian Caparelli; saw the near-complete mock data room, which features a projector wall for seamless lesson integration, and the team's progress on a large lab facility and inventory reorganization project. In Riverside, they met with new Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship instructor Luis Ibarra and learned about future classroom and lab buildout ideas proposed for the new facility. And finally, in Fresno, they hand-delivered the printed new edition of WECA's instructor guides, did some curriculum onboarding with new Apprenticeship instructor Robin Conger, received a facility tour from Commercial Electrical Apprenticeship instructor George Leach, and did some testing for new VR and web-based training scenarios.

Check Your Inboxes for Ticketing Links

Southern California



To join in the celebration of your graduation, check your email inbox for your ticketing link, and please RSVP no later than August 28, 2026.

Northern California



To join in the celebration of your graduation, check your email inbox for your ticketing link, and please RSVP no later than October 2, 2026.

Utah



To join in the celebration of your graduation, check your email inbox for your ticketing link, and please RSVP no later than September 11, 2026.

WECA Apprentices:

?Take Advantage of SmartDollar, Your FREE Apprenticeship Benefit

Getting By Isn't Getting You Ahead: a SmartDollar Success Story

?Not Yet Taking Advantage of SmartDollar? Get Started Below

Content courtesy of SmartDollar

If you've been feeling like you can't get ahead with your money, we want you to see what's possible.

Watch how this family of five paid off $154,000 in less than two years.

No shortcuts. Just a plan that works.

Watch their story.

This is the kind of progress that's possible when you use your SmartDollar benefit.

------------------------

Not yet signed up for SmartDollar? No worries -- getting started is easy! Learn how below.

SmartDollar is a financial wellness benefit for WECA apprentices. We announced our partnership with the Dave Ramsey-founded online financial wellness platform in January, 2021 to provide our apprentices with a sound foundation in personal finance management. This benefit is available to all WECA apprentices free of charge. Not yet signed up for SmartDollar? No worries -- scroll to the bottom of this article for instructions!

What is SmartDollar? SmartDollar is a step-by-step approach to handling money with the number-one authority in personal finance, Dave Ramsey. More than 4.5 million people have started on Dave's plan and taken control of their money, and you can too! SmartDollar will equip you to get out of debt, on a budget, and on your way to a strong financial foundation.

The average person pays off $9,405 of debt and saves $6,127 in the first twelve months, and you can too!

"This program is powerful yet simple to understand. The Baby Steps make understanding how to win with money easy! Dave's lessons are fun, informative, and incredibly encouraging. It really doesn't feel like I'm taking a financial course. It's more like learning finances from a good friend...or a financially savvy stand-up comedian! The online tools are fantastic as well, and I love being able to 'ASK DAVE' any question and do my budget online. Love it all!" - Recent participant

With SmartDollar, you'll learn how to...

• Jump-start your money
• Knock out debt
• Secure your dream home
• Retire in style
• Demystify your credit score

How does SmartDollar work? With so many ways to engage in SmartDollar activities and content, SmartDollar Points have been designed to encourage users to establish true behavior change. (Check out the graph below for a quick rundown). The greater the importance and required time of each activity, the greater the amount of points that can be earned. For example, each Core Lesson video completed is worth 250 points. Completing a shorter Deep Dive video is worth 50 points. Tracking a transaction in EveryDollar is only worth 20 points, but users are encouraged to track all their financial transactions with no points limitations. These example activities are key for building the confidence you need to reach your financial goals.





 

Taking advantage of your free financial wellness benefit, SmartDollar, is easy!

To set up your account after accessing your dashboard, click either of the links shown as highlighted in the screenshot to the right of this paragraph. You'll be taken to a page with a SmartDollar enrollment link, where you will be able to set up immediate access to this important benefit.

Ready to get started?

?Login to your GOWECA dashboard

Hard to Beat Electrician or Low Voltage Technician as AI-Proof Career Options. Think Ahead. Consider WECA.

WECA Electrician Trainees, General Students, and Journeyperson Continuing Education Students:

Your WECA Class Content is Moving to a New Website!

The big move is underway. Starting July 1st, all instructor-led GetWired courses will be hosted on our new class content website, Portal, at portal.goweca.com. Students enrolling in self-paced courses should check their class enrollment or welcome email for a link to access the new website. Please note that if you are currently enrolled in a self-paced or instructor-led course on eCampus, you will be able to complete that course in eCampus before moving to Portal for any subsequent enrollment. Be sure to review your enrollment or welcome email for details.

Here's a taste of what's changing in our upcoming move.

• Self-paced students can now access classes on the same day they are purchased. You can also use the dashboard to view your class progress. Hovering over your class on the dashboard lets you quickly see how long you have to complete class content before your enrollment expires.

• Looking for handy resources like your class calendar and makeup requests? Be sure to check out the block drawer. The block drawer contains your class calendar, student referral service, makeup requests, and more. To open the block drawer, click the oval with an arrow on the upper right-hand side of the window.

• WECA class content videos are now smoother, sleeker, and load directly into your course when you click them. No more need to click into YouTube or other content hosts, your class videos are inlaid directly into Portal for a smoother viewing experience. View videos in your class browser or pop them out for full screen viewing.

• Portal's new dashboard layout focuses on class content and brings Help and Support front and center.

 

What's coming next?

You might notice that Portal's look and feel are very similar to eCampus. One of the reasons we chose Portal, besides lots of great new features, was to help make the transition to the new website as easy as possible for our students and instructors (including reducing the amount of time you spend looking for class content).

Portal will allow WECA to pursue new exciting content. Stay tuned for updates to completion certificates, interactive videos and simulations, and more!

WECA, WECA Member Contractors, and WECA Grads in Attendance










 

Conduit bending was the name of the game at a recent event WECA (and WECA Member Contractors and WECA grads!) attended in Sacramento!

Diane Trotter, WECA's Assistant Director of Apprenticeship Operations, and Terrence Muller, WECA's Apprenticeship Recruiter and Outreach Specialist, joined a few WECA Member Contractors and WECA grads Tristen Pierce (of Pierce Electric), Nicholas Cummings (owner of WECA Member Contractor Low Voltage Specialist LLC), Garrett Shell (of WECA Member Contractor DKS Electric Inc) and Gennadiy Plugovoy at the event.

"Terrence and I had a great time at the event," said Diane. "People traveled from all over to attend this event, from Southern California and the Bay Area. We were impressed by the amount of people that came out to continue to learn how to build or build on their conduit bending skills. There were quite a few volunteers from contractors that came out to teach and support them. We were able to connect with lots of people that are interested in getting into careers as Low Voltage or Electrical Apprentices."

We had a great time connecting with our Member Contractors and future Apprentices, reconnecting with our graduates, and watching everyone build upon or continue to build upon their conduit bending skills!

 

WECA is excited to welcome Bill Garr back to WECA, this time as a full-time Apprenticeship instructor! Bill previously served WECA as a full-time GetWired Electrician Trainee/Continuing Education Lead Instructor before taking a hiatus to work in various aspects of the electrical industry. Even during his hiatus, though, Bill wasn’t far from WECA, because he served as a part-time GetWired instructor online.

During his hiatus, Bill worked as a project manager for various companies. Bill worked on prestigious and specialized projects for companies such as Calpine (which owns and operates The Geysers, the world’s largest geothermal energy complex, located in the Mayacamas Mountains in Lake and Sonoma Counties, CA); Lockheed Martin; PG&E (at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in Avila Beach, CA), and a company that specializes in hospital electrical work.

However, this hiatus led Bill to discover that he truly loved teaching. To that end, Bill sold his childhood home in Santa Rosa and moved to Sacramento to come back to WECA full-time to continue pursuing his passion for teaching.

Prior to WECA, Bill was inspired to become an electrician by his father and grandfather, who were electricians. He attended community college for his AA and received an Electrician Trainee Program Certificate with WECA in pursuit of that goal—and the rest is history.

Now that Bill is back at WECA, he said “My favorite thing about my current role is that I get to have an in-person experience with the students, coupled with while working here for WECA, I get my own classroom to provide a safe learning experience for the students.”

Moving forward, Bill said “I hope to accomplish a lasting and great effect on the new generation of people becoming electricians. I want to inspire, provide wonder and enthusiasm for the students, so they can become the best at what they do.”

Bill attributed his success at WECA and in his career to key people in his life, such as his parents, friends, and fellow WECA instructor LaKeal Morris and former WECA Apprenticeship instructor and current GetWired part-time instructor Zach Wallace.

“My mother and my father, for encouraging me and supporting me throughout my life, and a couple of instructors here at WECA, LaKeal and Zach, who also encouraged me to follow up on education and instruction, and my close friends who also supported me and believed in my passion to become an instructor,” said Bill.

Bill’s other passions besides teaching and inspiring the next generation of electricians include fly fishing, kayaking, golfing, archery, and gaming on his PC.

Thank you for being part of the WECA family, Bill, and coming full circle (again!) from WECA Electrician Trainee to GetWired Lead Instructor and part-time instructor to Apprenticeship instructor! We are excited to have you back and for you to continue inspiring the next generation of electricians!

Here's a pic roundup of some second-year, second-semester Low Voltage apprentices and first year, second semester Commercial Electrical apprentices getting it done in the WECA labs!

Save the Date(s) for the WECA California Class of 2026 Graduation Events in Southern and Northern California!



WECA's 2026 Commencement Ceremonies for our California graduating Apprenticeship and Electrician Trainee Program Classes of 2026 will be held on the above dates! Watch your inboxes for more details as these events draw closer. We look forward to celebrating the hard work and accomplishments of our graduates!

 

Save the date! WECA's 2026 Commencement Ceremonies for our Utah Graduating Apprenticeship Class of 2026 will be held on September 26th!

Please watch your inboxes for ticketing and sponsorship details as this event draws closer. We look forward to celebrating the hard work and accomplishments of our graduates!

Christmas in July: Get Ahead and Avoid Holiday Money Stress with SmartDollar, Your FREE Apprenticeship Benefit


 

Content courtesy of SmartDollar

July might feel too early to talk about the holidays, but trust us--they sneak up fast. We've been there: It's December, and we're scrambling to cover gifts, travel, and holiday events. That kind of stress can take the joy out of the season.

But we don't have to let it catch us off guard.

If we roll now, we can avoid the last-minute panic and actually enjoy the holidays when they roll around.

Let's use this summer to get a jump start!

----------

Not yet signed up for SmartDollar? No worries -- getting started is easy! Learn how below.

SmartDollar is a financial wellness benefit for WECA apprentices. We announced our partnership with the Dave Ramsey-founded online financial wellness platform in January, 2021 to provide our apprentices with a sound foundation in personal finance management. This benefit is available to all WECA apprentices free of charge. Not yet signed up for SmartDollar? No worries -- scroll to the bottom of this article for instructions!

What is SmartDollar? SmartDollar is a step-by-step approach to handling money with the number-one authority in personal finance, Dave Ramsey. More than 4.5 million people have started on Dave's plan and taken control of their money, and you can too! SmartDollar will equip you to get out of debt, on a budget, and on your way to a strong financial foundation.

The average person pays off $9,405 of debt and saves $6,127 in the first twelve months, and you can too!

"This program is powerful yet simple to understand. The Baby Steps make understanding how to win with money easy! Dave's lessons are fun, informative, and incredibly encouraging. It really doesn't feel like I'm taking a financial course. It's more like learning finances from a good friend...or a financially savvy stand-up comedian! The online tools are fantastic as well, and I love being able to 'ASK DAVE' any question and do my budget online. Love it all!" - Recent participant

With SmartDollar, you'll learn how to...

• Jump-start your money
• Knock out debt
• Secure your dream home
• Retire in style
• Demystify your credit score

How does SmartDollar work? With so many ways to engage in SmartDollar activities and content, SmartDollar Points have been designed to encourage users to establish true behavior change. (Check out the graph below for a quick rundown). The greater the importance and required time of each activity, the greater the amount of points that can be earned. For example, each Core Lesson video completed is worth 250 points. Completing a shorter Deep Dive video is worth 50 points. Tracking a transaction in EveryDollar is only worth 20 points, but users are encouraged to track all their financial transactions with no points limitations. These example activities are key for building the confidence you need to reach your financial goals.







 

Taking advantage of your free financial wellness benefit, SmartDollar, is easy!

To set up your account after accessing your dashboard, click either of the links shown as highlighted in the screenshot to the right of this paragraph. You'll be taken to a page with a SmartDollar enrollment link, where you will be able to set up immediate access to this important benefit.

Ready to get started?

Login to your GOWECA dashboard