1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000 Soften your senses. 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,480 Ways to become a better speaker, listener, and follower. 3 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:21,480 Learn more about Explore the Trades at explorethetrades.org. 4 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:26,360 If we think about the trades that a lot of us grew up into, it was because of experiences 5 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:27,360 that we had in life. 6 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:33,600 I mean, as a kid, a lot of us worked on things that we didn't really always know exactly 7 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:37,360 what we were doing, but we enjoyed tinkering with things. 8 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,680 And as we evolved, some of us ended up finding jobs out in the field. 9 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:45,120 A lot of us went to college just to get to college like myself and go, I don't know 10 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:47,080 that this is really me. 11 00:00:47,080 --> 00:00:52,040 I love learning, but man, I really miss working on stuff. 12 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:58,000 And some of us as kids that worked on things ended up being older kids that continued working 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:04,880 on things and found ourselves in the trades, in a variety of different trades, right? 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:10,760 So if we could have looked back in time and prepared for some of these jobs, where would 15 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:11,760 we be in life? 16 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:16,920 A lot of us didn't find exactly our home in the industry until later once we were very 17 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,400 experienced and had some opportunities to learn a little bit about life. 18 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:26,600 Well, what if we had opportunities along the way to scope where we were going? 19 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:31,520 Technicians in today's industries, in the trades, in HVAC and plumbing and electrical 20 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:35,160 are pursuing different avenues than many of us did. 21 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:36,960 We were there to fix a lot of things. 22 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:40,640 Now a lot of our younger generation are looking at the world going, I really want to make 23 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:41,640 a difference. 24 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:47,960 And there are changes in technology that have made these roles so much more significant 25 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,920 and you can have such an impact on the environment that we live in. 26 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,840 So we're really anxious to be able to discuss the trades and discuss how to promote the 27 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:01,440 trades to bring in some of these bright young talent into our programs. 28 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,320 So Kate, thank you so much for joining us today. 29 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:08,720 And let's learn a little bit about what Explore the Trades is doing for our industry because 30 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:10,400 it is a big deal. 31 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:11,760 And it's something that we didn't have. 32 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,680 We didn't have the advocacy like this 20, 30 years ago for sure. 33 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:16,680 Yeah. 34 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:17,680 Well, thank you for having me. 35 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:20,360 This conversation will be a lot of fun. 36 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:21,360 Absolutely. 37 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,680 We're a team. 38 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:29,400 So just to give you a little bit of background about Explore the Trades, we're a nonprofit 39 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:34,760 with our sole focus of bridging the technical talent gap to the service trades of plumbing, 40 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:36,120 heating, cooling and electrical. 41 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,160 So that's what we do. 42 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,520 So really our focus is really to promote the trades. 43 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:49,280 And I think Explore the Trades is positioned in such a unique spot where we have the opportunity 44 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:57,080 to really fill in that foundational information, to really tell everybody, specifically students 45 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:02,520 and educators and parents, really tell the story of why someone would consider these 46 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:07,400 industries for a career out of high school and really how they play into our everyday 47 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:08,400 lives. 48 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:13,960 So the example I can use that I think about the most is how many students are out there 49 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,920 or adults for that matter, where you go into your kitchen and you turn the light on and 50 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,960 you don't even think about the work and all the things that go along with that. 51 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:28,120 You know, and just how does everything incorporate into our daily lives? 52 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:29,120 Absolutely. 53 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:30,120 Yeah. 54 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,920 When we think about trades from the perspective of 30 years ago, they didn't have the technologies 55 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:35,920 that we have. 56 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:41,080 They didn't have the esteem that we have in today's generations. 57 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,200 There was a time where the trades were kind of looked down as, well, if you're not going 58 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,400 to succeed in college, this is a path you can go because you can still make pretty good 59 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:54,000 money working on some toilets and working on some drains and running some wire and maybe 60 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:58,400 hooking up some cable and maybe working on a furnace or an air conditioner, which were 61 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,840 all built very similar at the time. 62 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:02,680 And that is nothing similar to that. 63 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,320 I can think about some of the electricians now that are getting into things like solar 64 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:11,840 voltaic and technologies that weren't even thought of a generation or two ago to be a 65 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,400 really well suited career to look into. 66 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:15,400 Right. 67 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:16,400 Yeah. 68 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:21,800 I think with all of these systems that come into our homes and our workplaces every day, 69 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:28,400 you think about everything that really separates us from a third world country, clean water, 70 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:32,280 you know, indoor air quality, electricity. 71 00:04:32,280 --> 00:04:35,240 We just we forget about that every day and we take it for granted. 72 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:36,240 Yeah, absolutely. 73 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:37,240 We do. 74 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:38,240 All right. 75 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:44,420 So let's tell us a little bit about how we are affecting the trades and how that transition 76 00:04:44,420 --> 00:04:46,840 can help our educational institutions. 77 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:50,600 We have a lot of educators that will be joining us today wanting to learn more about how do 78 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:51,600 I even market? 79 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:54,200 How, who do I start the conversations with? 80 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:55,200 Sure. 81 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,280 So primarily, like I mentioned just a couple of minutes ago, the main demographic to whom 82 00:04:59,280 --> 00:05:04,720 we are speaking would really be that K through 12 audience, educators, school counselors, 83 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:09,240 and parents again, to set the stage of what these careers have to offer. 84 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,520 And I think in your intro, Clifton, you know, seeing all the pictures of those kids playing 85 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,840 outside and playing with tools, you know, I think we have to remember that because the 86 00:05:17,840 --> 00:05:22,560 generations have changed so much that a lot of the students right now who would be in 87 00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:25,880 middle school, high school, they don't know what they don't know. 88 00:05:25,880 --> 00:05:27,960 So exposure, right? 89 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:32,500 So if mom and dad aren't working on stuff at home, they're not going to see that either. 90 00:05:32,500 --> 00:05:38,000 So that's where we can come in to really set the stage to let them know all of the opportunities 91 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,200 that would exist out here. 92 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:43,860 So a lot of the work we do, again, we're focused on that school audience. 93 00:05:43,860 --> 00:05:50,040 We're focused on really adding filters to these trades to say, hey, let's talk about 94 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:51,040 STEM. 95 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:52,440 And I know we'll talk about that in a little bit. 96 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:53,440 Yeah, absolutely. 97 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:58,680 And how the trades fall under STEM, talking about the career growth that's possible. 98 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:01,960 You know, as soon as you finish high school and you start your apprenticeship, let's think 99 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:08,240 about all of those career mile markers that you can achieve in these industries. 100 00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:14,080 So not only being a technician, but going into being a service manager and other leadership 101 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:19,840 and potentially sort of that entrepreneurship role that comes into play. 102 00:06:19,840 --> 00:06:20,840 Yeah. 103 00:06:20,840 --> 00:06:24,040 There are a lot of technicians, once they get out in the field, you know, they think, 104 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,800 oh, well, this is a good way for me to be able to have my own business someday. 105 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:32,400 And it's a small percent that do, but the ones that develop to that point, it takes 106 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:37,720 all of that experiential investment over the time to be able to run your own business. 107 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,520 Not like you could go in and work for a year or two and start your own business. 108 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:43,560 There's a lot involved with that, many aspects of education. 109 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:45,000 Yeah, absolutely. 110 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:50,200 So again, we just, we really want to talk to those adults and those education professionals 111 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:55,240 who would have the opportunity to influence a lot of those conversations at the school 112 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:56,240 level. 113 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:57,240 Okay. 114 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,120 So, and you're also working with contractors and now how does that play along? 115 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,760 Do you have the ability to influence contractors to have input on some of these educational 116 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:05,760 programs? 117 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:06,760 Yeah. 118 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:11,360 So a lot of the, a lot of the information we have online, and I'm sure we'll look at that 119 00:07:11,360 --> 00:07:12,920 in a little bit as well. 120 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:19,740 And a lot of the content that we have available for download from our website, available by 121 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:24,480 request, a lot of that content came out of conversations with contractors who would call 122 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,280 and say, Hey Kate, I'm going to a career fair. 123 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,580 What do you have that I could use to help tell the story? 124 00:07:31,580 --> 00:07:36,320 So that's really how all of these came to be to say, what are some of the basic questions? 125 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,600 What are the most asked questions about being in the trades? 126 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:40,880 And that's how we assembled it. 127 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:47,000 So a lot of the content we have are used, is used by contractors at high school fairs, 128 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:48,000 recruiting events. 129 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:52,400 So we have a lot, there's a lot of, I would say play with a lot of those. 130 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:53,400 Okay, definitely. 131 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:57,160 Cause I've always wondered how, how many of those call in your name might even be able 132 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:58,400 to have some aspect on that. 133 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:02,760 Do we get very many contractors calling in asking what the paths and what the opportunities 134 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:04,240 are for students? 135 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,160 Oh, absolutely. 136 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:11,080 All of the time, especially at that high school level, we're talking to instructors that are 137 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:15,740 looking for, you know, how do I encourage my students from going from my high school 138 00:08:15,740 --> 00:08:21,040 exploratory program where we're touching on multi, you know, we're touching on a little 139 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:26,720 bit of air conditioning, some heating, some plumbing to really choose a pathway to go 140 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:32,600 and further their, their career and their, their studies beyond that high school level. 141 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:33,600 Absolutely. 142 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:40,120 The way we wanted to sort of design the website is depending on the demographic that you fit 143 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:45,640 into, absolutely your way to get into the questions that you would like answered. 144 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,840 Who am I and what resources do you have for me? 145 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:49,840 That's exactly right. 146 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:50,840 You got it. 147 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:51,840 Very cool. 148 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:53,480 A lot of the information. 149 00:08:53,480 --> 00:09:00,200 So over last year, we had the chance to host a couple of webinars specifically geared towards 150 00:09:00,200 --> 00:09:06,040 high school educators and middle school educators and school counselors to say, Hey, let us 151 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:07,400 educate the educators. 152 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:11,360 You know, what sort of information can they have in their back pocket when they're talking 153 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:15,120 with their students and really thinking about what that path might look like after high 154 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:16,240 school. 155 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:21,760 And we were able to pull some labor statistics in terms of, you know, growth that we're expecting 156 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:24,080 for the next handful of years in the trades. 157 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:30,020 We have about three to 4% of women who are in the workforce right now, which is slowly 158 00:09:30,020 --> 00:09:37,680 increasing and really trying to break down the stereotypes where, you know, well, you're, 159 00:09:37,680 --> 00:09:39,440 you're not smart enough to go to college. 160 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,240 Or quote unquote, just a plumber where we could easily dispel that myth to say, well, 161 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:49,440 you know, the apprenticeship is 8,000 hours and they're hands on training, you know, so 162 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,440 there's a lot of equipment and technologies. 163 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:53,520 Exactly. 164 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,080 There's a number of ways to sort of change that perspective. 165 00:09:57,080 --> 00:09:58,080 Yeah. 166 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,280 And I've seen that personally grow just from the social media side. 167 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:05,640 So on a channel that I had a couple of years ago, I used to do a similar kind of content 168 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:12,280 and I always kept about a one to 1.3 to 1.5% female audience. 169 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,560 And that was pretty consistent with a lot of other people that was in that realm. 170 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:21,760 I could tell you that in this last six months, we are hovering around 3% females for our 171 00:10:21,760 --> 00:10:26,820 social content, which shows us that we have just in a short period of time started moving 172 00:10:26,820 --> 00:10:29,860 into that 3 and 4% female workers in the trades. 173 00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:34,080 And we're starting to see a lot more doing social broadcasting, showing what the trades 174 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:36,160 look like from the female perspectives. 175 00:10:36,160 --> 00:10:40,560 And that is really developing into a growing trend and it needs to be grasped. 176 00:10:40,560 --> 00:10:44,640 Because if you think about a lot of the educators, a lot of the educators out there have been 177 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,840 like guys like me who grew up in the trades and this is what you did. 178 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,200 And when you get done, hopefully you get out of the field and you do some training. 179 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:55,980 But then how do you approach young ladies to be involved with a trade that you may not 180 00:10:55,980 --> 00:11:00,000 even be good at communicating to young ladies to begin with? 181 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:06,480 So there's a learning curve for educators to be able to approach this women in the trades 182 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:07,480 properly. 183 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:13,800 And it's a huge door that as this opens is going to open up new avenues for both educators 184 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,320 and for our youth as well. 185 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:22,120 Not even just for the female demographic, for all demographics coming into the trades. 186 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,800 All the trades break off into so many different pathways. 187 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:31,640 It's not just the hot, sweaty technicians that are up on the roof. 188 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:38,720 You've got analytics, you've got controls, you've got so much automation and cool technology 189 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:46,640 nowadays that it isn't the same as what we were taught that these trades were many, many 190 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:47,640 years ago. 191 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:48,760 So yeah, yeah. 192 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:58,040 I recently spoke with a contractor out in San Diego and the owner has a handful of women 193 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,760 serving as HVAC technicians. 194 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:06,600 And the owner explained to me that they are probably the most booked out technicians on 195 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:07,600 staff. 196 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,020 You know, once they have that customer base, it's full. 197 00:12:11,020 --> 00:12:15,560 But they were also sharing with me that when you think about it, and I think these are 198 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:23,240 attributes maybe more for females, but depending on what you're working on with your fingers, 199 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:29,080 female fingers tend to be smaller and it's just sort of that the ability to establish 200 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:31,000 that rapport with the homeowner. 201 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:35,000 Oftentimes it would be a woman at home answering the service call. 202 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:39,320 So immediately there's that trust that can be built, attention to detail. 203 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:48,240 So there's a lot of intangible traits that I think are really way in our favor actually. 204 00:12:48,240 --> 00:12:52,480 I keep hearing the same thing from contractors that they wish they had 10 women for everyone 205 00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:57,000 that they've hired because of the customer support, because that's a whole nother topic 206 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:02,160 that we'll do on some shows is the customer service side of being a technician. 207 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:07,080 When you're interacting with people, a lot of times, us guys aren't the best conversational 208 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,000 people when we're out working in the field. 209 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,160 We have to learn how to communicate. 210 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:15,460 It really does offer a lot of interesting opportunities. 211 00:13:15,460 --> 00:13:19,600 When you're talking about how so many of the different avenues of our trade are never really 212 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:24,440 discussed, we have this envision of Uncle Bob the plumber with a beer belly and can't 213 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:29,720 keep his shirt tucked in and Uncle Joe that's electrician that can barely climb the telephone 214 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:30,920 pole. 215 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,720 We have all of these misperceptions of the industry. 216 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:39,240 I remember having a conversation too many years ago with a young guy in his late 20s 217 00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:43,560 and we were talking about being in the HVAC industry and he worked on cooling units that 218 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:47,360 were on the sides of telecommunication buildings. 219 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:53,760 He worked on these on remote mountaintops and islands because they couldn't find technicians. 220 00:13:53,760 --> 00:13:59,000 So he was an outdoors person very much into hunting and just enjoyed being out in nature 221 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:04,680 and he was an air conditioning technician that would fly out on a helicopter, get dropped 222 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:10,040 in these remote mountaintop places where he could work on air conditioning equipment that 223 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:14,060 was there and he would go in for two or three days and stay for a day or two and just be 224 00:14:14,060 --> 00:14:15,060 on the side of the mountain. 225 00:14:15,060 --> 00:14:16,560 I said, man, how do you find a gig like that? 226 00:14:16,560 --> 00:14:19,040 He said, we can't find anybody to fill the jobs. 227 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:24,240 I was like, wow, there's very interesting jobs in our industry that people are unaware 228 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:28,280 of and doing things like this, talking about the opportunities, talking about how HVAC 229 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:29,280 is not this. 230 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:31,640 HVAC is unbelievably big. 231 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:32,960 Electrical is not this anymore. 232 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:34,640 It's got so many opportunities. 233 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:38,280 Plumbing is not just a small window of opportunities. 234 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,760 It is technology that is moving at the speed of every other industry. 235 00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:48,920 I have a buddy that was a chiller technician on one model of chiller. 236 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:53,840 So he was like the best technician at that model and all he did was waited for the phone 237 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:58,920 call to come from an embassy and he would hop on a flight to go work on a chiller anywhere 238 00:14:58,920 --> 00:14:59,960 around the world. 239 00:14:59,960 --> 00:15:01,060 And that was his gig. 240 00:15:01,060 --> 00:15:05,440 And so there are so many opportunities in our industry and we just need to be open to 241 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,720 the thought that it's not a little job anymore. 242 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,880 It's an abundance of opportunities. 243 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:11,880 Yeah. 244 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:12,880 Yeah. 245 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:17,440 So, I mean, speaking of women in the trades, when we were sharing all of this information 246 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:23,400 with the teachers and school counselors, you know, in that spirit of really understanding 247 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:28,280 the history behind it, you know, we were able to share a few facts about Lillian, who was 248 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:32,360 the first master plumber, first female master plumber in the fifties. 249 00:15:32,360 --> 00:15:37,720 And so, you know, when you, when you think back, it's, this isn't anything new. 250 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,540 I mean, this was, you know, 70 years ago. 251 00:15:41,540 --> 00:15:45,880 So it's just really interesting to sort of uncover history a little bit to share that 252 00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:46,880 with everybody. 253 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:47,880 Yeah, it really is. 254 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:49,020 And I'm a history buff. 255 00:15:49,020 --> 00:15:52,240 So you're, you're speaking my language right now. 256 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:56,400 One of the most interesting conversations I have ever had at one point in my career, 257 00:15:56,400 --> 00:16:02,560 I was working on some equipment at a retirement community here in Indiana and I was carrying 258 00:16:02,560 --> 00:16:07,560 on some conversation with a little old lady that was there, just as, just an amazing individual. 259 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,520 We started talking about what she did for a career. 260 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,640 She said, well, you could probably enjoy this. 261 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:16,720 I wired instrument panels for B-52 bombers during the war. 262 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:18,260 And I went, you did what? 263 00:16:18,260 --> 00:16:19,320 She said, yep. 264 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,000 She says I was a small enough person. 265 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,600 There wasn't a man that could get under that dash. 266 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:28,400 So I wired the dash for every B-52 that came out of the plant. 267 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:34,680 Man, we, we have really, really started to start sparking conversations on opportunities. 268 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:35,680 Here we go. 269 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:36,680 Yeah. 270 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:41,000 So another step that we have pulled in sharing, you know, one of the reasons why people should 271 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:45,360 consider the trades after high school is that just the amount of student loan debt. 272 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:51,520 I mean, you look at the number and you can't even fathom $1.73 trillion in student loans 273 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,600 carried by everyone in the United States right now. 274 00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:58,520 So I think that's an easy, that's an easy message to share. 275 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,080 And you can start an apprenticeship and start to earn a wage. 276 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,000 I've witnessed that firsthand myself. 277 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:08,440 With kids going to school, there's a big difference on that kind of debt that you come. 278 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:13,280 My own son, he was able to, fortunate to be able to do firefighting through his junior 279 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:18,360 and senior year of high school and then continued on to finish up his degree afterwards versus 280 00:17:18,360 --> 00:17:20,720 friends that didn't start in high school. 281 00:17:20,720 --> 00:17:23,200 They didn't start until after they got out of high school. 282 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:25,440 Many of them are still in school. 283 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,640 And you know, it's made a big difference in his life and the way that he looks at his 284 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:31,400 future and a career. 285 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:32,400 Yeah. 286 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:33,760 Big numbers to talk about there. 287 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:34,760 Yeah. 288 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:35,760 Yeah. 289 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:39,400 And another thing, you know, when we, when we talk about, especially to that educator 290 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:45,160 audience, you know, really thinking about, okay, why do technicians love what they do? 291 00:17:45,160 --> 00:17:50,640 And so we just put up some of the top five answers that we would repeatedly get, you 292 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:56,540 know, and I think that all revolves around the same theme of really being community minded 293 00:17:56,540 --> 00:18:00,900 in that, you know, that someone in the neighborhood, the water heater went out or, you know, whatever 294 00:18:00,900 --> 00:18:07,360 that job might be, but really having the critical thinking skills to diagnose the issue. 295 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:10,720 Here's how we're going to problem solve, you know, and really communicate with the homeowner 296 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:11,720 that way. 297 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:16,360 But, you know, when other aspects of, you know, earning potential, helping the environment, 298 00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:20,680 I think Renee mentioned earlier with all of the technology that's in there now, you know, 299 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:25,840 there's so many devices to help with water conservation, energy conservation, you know, 300 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:29,720 there's a whole, you know, toolbox full of those. 301 00:18:29,720 --> 00:18:35,520 And you know, I think with those technicians, once you have that skill set, you can really 302 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:36,520 go anywhere. 303 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:40,320 I mean, an embassy for Pete's sake, I never would have thought about that. 304 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:45,480 But you know, that's that opens up a whole new door of careers. 305 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:50,240 I think our younger generation, well, I know that they are younger generations are very 306 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,080 interested in making an impact on the world that they live in. 307 00:18:53,080 --> 00:19:00,360 Yeah, I was, I was recently read an article from Pew Research and they were spotlighting 308 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:08,320 Gen Z for a number of reasons, but when it really got down to societal and cultural things 309 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:11,960 to think about, the climate was right at the top of the list. 310 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:17,320 And we, our industry has a really strong case to say, you come into HVAC or plumbing or 311 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:23,880 electrical, what a great way to really help the environment again, with all of those devices 312 00:19:23,880 --> 00:19:24,880 that we can use. 313 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:30,200 Kate, I want to just thank you for being here with us and telling us all about Explore the 314 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:36,160 Trades and all the tools and resources available, not only just for our educators, but for people 315 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:42,320 that are looking to get into the trades, they now have some place to a resource to utilize 316 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,280 to find more details and really learn more about these things. 317 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:48,400 So thanks for the resources you have. 318 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:49,800 And thanks for your time today. 319 00:19:49,800 --> 00:20:00,440 We appreciate it so much.