When I graduated high school, I thought college was my only option for a fulfilling career in which I could make a living. I slowly found out that school was not for me. I found it hard to focus and found myself struggling with courses that seemed impossible and uninteresting. What started as part-time work in the service industry to pay for tuition and books stagnated into a full-time job. Though I had heard of apprenticeship, I thought it was a thing of the past. I thought only blacksmiths and carriage makers had apprentices. I grew tired of working in the service industry and wandered into a job in commercial construction, period. There I met people who became tradesmen through apprenticeship programs and were providing good living for themselves and their families. When I learned that through organized labor and apprenticeship, I too could learn a skilled trade through on-the-job training while earning a good living benefiting from health coverage. Pension and collective bargaining. It was an easy decision to join the apprenticeship program at Plumbers Local 68. I've almost completed two years of the apprenticeship training program and I have learned a plethora of new skills as well as become a better member of my community and person. I work every day with hard-working, family-oriented people who make for excellent teachers, co-workers, and Union brothers. I work hard every day to live up to the standards set by those who came before me so that I too can earn a good living for my family and pave the way for the next generation of apprentices.