WINOOSKI, Vt. (WCAX) – Apprentices at VHV Company in Winooski are building their futures while earning paychecks through a program that combines hands-on work experience with classroom training.
Owen Waligory starts his mornings early as a sheet metal apprentice, shaping metal into ductwork for commercial buildings.
The process involves cutting with a plasma cutter, stiffening, shaping edges, and bending the metal into square shapes.
“We have round ductwork and we have rectangular ductwork. This piece will go between the two,” Waligory explained.
He splits his time between the shop floor and classroom, learning skills he says he wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.
“If I didn’t have the classroom aspect, I wouldn’t get to try… I would have never tried welding, and I wouldn’t have tried soldering, and now I know how to do those skills,” Waligory said.
The work and class time count toward a journey-level certificate from the state, requiring 8,000 hours of trade-specific work and about 700 hours of classroom time.
“The expectation here at VHV is everyone is improving themselves continually. Here’s a vehicle where they can just jump in; they got a clear path; there’s wage increments that go with it, other benefits,” said VHV’s Rob Ward.
The program is free for apprentices. The company views it as investing in future skilled workers. “We absorb that as a necessary thing because we need the skilled labor. So it’s a fair trade,” Ward said.
The earning potential attracts apprentices like second-year HVAC apprentice Jacob Spooner. “My parents and people before me are told to go to college and do all this — and we’re told that’s what you have to do, you have to do it! But with this, you can do this and make just as much money without going into debt,” Spooner said.
Click here to learn more about the Department of Labor’s Vermont Registered Apprenticeship Program.
