Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Gov. Spencer Cox and U.S. Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling visited a West Jordan apprenticeship facility.
- They highlighted the importance of trades and President Donald Trump's apprenticeship expansion efforts.
- Cox emphasized reducing stigma around trades, urging legislative investment in career and technical education.
WEST JORDAN — Gov. Spencer Cox got a crash course as an electrician Wednesday: wiring a light fixture, bending a metal conduit and watching a hot dog be fried with 120 volts of electricity during a tour of a West Jordan apprenticeship training facility.
Dozens of students laughed when the governor said a series of trigonometry equations written on the whiteboard are why he went to law school, and they applauded as he flipped a switch, successfully illuminating a light bulb he wired.
Cox was accompanied by U.S. Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, a Trump administration official who was in the state to promote the president's push to expand opportunities in high-skilled trades and learn from programs already in place in Utah. President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month directing three top cabinet officials to reach at least 1 million apprenticeships nationwide.
"This is coming from the president himself," Sonderling told KSL.com after the tour of the Utah Electrical Training Alliance facility. "The reason I wanted to come out here is to actually see how an apprenticeship program is working in a very highly skilled trade area. And, you know, it's an honor to be here with the governor, because Utah is doing it right, both from the state perspective in legislation that has been passed, or might be passed, but also in encouraging these type of jobs and encouraging students to look at apprenticeships in these amazing state-of-the-art facilities here."
"Seeing a facility like this allows me ... when I go back to D.C., when I travel the country, to show the rest of the country how it's being done," he added.
Cox has long been focused on creating opportunities for education and employment outside of the traditional higher education — he promoted a "skills-first hiring initiative" during his first term to expand work opportunities for those without college degrees — and said Wednesday it's important to combat a "stigma" that has surrounded trade jobs historically.
"When I ask parents, 'What's your kid doing after high school?' and they're kind of embarrassed to tell me that they might be going into a trade or a technical course," the governor said. "And I always tell them: 'Please do not be embarrassed about that. You should be shouting that from the rooftops. Yeah, it's cool (if) your kid gets into Harvard. It's also cool that they're here.'"
Cox also touted investments from the Utah Legislature in career and technical education, totaling about $65 million to establish so-called "catalyst centers" for K-12 students. He told the group the state is invested in growing programs like the one that serves some 800 apprentices in West Jordan.
"The demand for electricians, especially, is just going to skyrocket over the next 10 years," the governor said. "So, you've chosen very wisely, and we're lucky that you're here and grateful for your examples."
"This is what President Trump sees as the future in the American workforce," Sonderling told one classroom. "All of you are leading by example, are making great stories for me, the governor, to take it back as we look to implement these programs across the United States."
Cox said he wants the Legislature to continue to invest in apprenticeship opportunities and hopes more people will consider trades as an alternative to traditional four-year degrees.
"We need to convince more and more people this is great for them and it's what they want to do," he said. "They're just kids who have a knack for this kind of stuff, and kind of forcing them into a bachelor's degree isn't great for them either. So, let's find these other opportunities, and let's do a better job of promoting that."
