I am currently a sophomore student at Lake Superior College. I will be completing my second year of college in the Commercial and Residential Wiring program to receive my diploma to become an electrician in the spring of 2027. I decided to get on this waiting list for this program three years ago. I did this because I found out about potential electrical issues in my mothers home. Unfortunately my mother and I are on a low income basis so finding the financial resources to have electrical work done on our house isn’t always easy. The electrical in our home hasn’t been updated since 2004. We currently haven’t experienced to many issues, but most of our outlets in our house are 2 prong so they don’t all have ground protection. This is something I hope to change once I get my diploma since I will be more experienced with electricity! This was my entire reason for joining the Commercial and Residential Wiring program in the first place, after finishing my first year in school thought it has become much more than just fixing up my mothers home. I’ve watched my mother struggle for years being on low income. I have no idea how she did it, but she always made sure there was food on the table for all of us. Watching my mother have nothing and still give everything she possibly could not only to me, but my friends at school and even others in the community around us helped shaped me into the person I am today. It made me want to help fight hunger not only in the US, but other countries as well. Food should be accessible to everyone. It’s what fuels us so we can continue to go to work, children can play, it’s even something all people can socialize over. I understand that there are many food shelves all over Minnesota, but recently the ruby pantry in my area got shut down. This was huge for me and my mom. They would provide us with fresh vegetables and meats that weren’t going to expire next day. I’m not saying I’m not grateful for all the other food shelves in the area, I just remember only eating pasta and fruit snacks as a child because those are the only things that would last long enough in cabinets from most other food shelves. If im ever able to in the future I would like to contribute to a food shelf. I’ve thought of some ways I could do this and put my diploma to use as well. I unfortunately wouldn’t be able to do this until I became a master electrician, but I think that chapter is also closer than I believe it to be. I would like to sell my working skills for food, I would rate vegetables and fresh produce at a higher price for electrical work and things like pasta and preservable foods at a lower rate. Obviously I would still expect regular payments if needed, but I think an alternative options for people to pay with food for manual labor on their homes is a great way of giving back to the community as well. I don’t know how ideal this idea really is. Maybe it would have to be on a base to base case, but hunger is a real problem in our country and it’s not just affecting the low income class anymore.

I am currently a sophomore student at Lake Superior College. I will be completing my second year of college in the Commercial and Residential Wiring program to receive my diploma to become an electrician in the spring of 2027. I decided to get on this waiting list for this program three years ago. I did this because I found out about potential electrical issues in my mothers home. Unfortunately my mother and I are on a low income basis so finding the financial resources to have electrical work done on our house isn’t always easy. The electrical in our home hasn’t been updated since 2004. We currently haven’t experienced to many issues, but most of our outlets in our house are 2 prong so they don’t all have ground protection. This is something I hope to change once I get my diploma since I will be more experienced with electricity! This was my entire reason for joining the Commercial and Residential Wiring program in the first place, after finishing my first year in school thought it has become much more than just fixing up my mothers home. I am going to be applying for the union in Duluth, MN and the Iron Range, MN this fall to help create a well rounded future for myself and my family. As a full time college student I am personally not able to work as much as I would like too. Applying for scholarships and grants have give me the grace to not have to apply for student loans while I am working towards my diploma. I currently am working as a part time server while going to college to help pay for my expenses as well. This scholarship would allow me to continue focusing on my studies more heavily without having to worry about putting food on the table for my family along with additional bills like car issuance, gas back and forth to school, and other essential needs. I am one of the main providers in my household and do my best to help my mother with anything I can since we are currently on a low income household. With this scholarship I will be able to focus on my schooling to create a better future for my family and pull us out of a low income status. My family is my why for everything I do. They have done everything in there power to give me the best life they could and I am striving to do the same for them.

I’m Chace a twenty-three year old student currently enrolled in the Commercial and Residential Wiring Program at Lake Superior College. I’ve always taken interest in working more with my hands. Wether that was in the garage helping my brothers with one of there vehicles or fixing/ installing household appliances in my mothers house. I’ve always taken pride in repairing things around my home instead of having to ask someone else do it. This was part of reason why I applied to go to school for the Commercial and Residential Wiring Program at LSC (Lake Superior College). I come from a low income household so I’ve learned to “DIY it” or find someone who was willing to teach me how to fix it myself since I couldn’t afford the labor to pay someone else to do it for me. Unfortunately there are something’s that you shouldn’t DIY. One of those things happens to be upgrading your own electric or installing it yourself without the proper training. The electric in my mother’s home has not been updated since 2004. Which as of current isn’t bad, but in the future will need to be done. Since I unfortunately do not have the means to pay someone to do this I did the next best thing I know how to do, and that was to learn from someone else! I’m about to enter my second year(final year) in the CRW (Commercial and Residential Wiring) program and then start my apprenticeship hopefully with the union once I’m finish with school. The CRW program is currently giving me a good fundamental basis of how electricity works and the dangers of it and how to keep those dangers to a minimum. Once I graduate and start my apprenticeship with the union I will then start taking my first big steps into my career and more importantly gaining the knowledge to upgrade any electrical work I want to be done on my mothers house. Working on my mothers home has become more and more important to me as I get older, even while being on low income she did everything in power to make sure I had everything I needed and did her absolutely best to get me anything I wanted as well. I’m eternally grateful for my mother since not many have had to go through what she went through, and she still did everything in her power to make sure I was happy. The least I can do is work towards a better future for the both of us.

Hi, I’m Chace a twenty-three year old student currently enrolled in the Commercial and Residential Wiring Program at Lake Superior College. I’ve always taken interest in working more with my hands. Wether that was in the garage helping my brothers with one of there vehicles or fixing/ installing household appliances in my mothers house. I’ve always taken pride in repairing things around my home instead of having to someone else do it. This was part of reason why I applied to go to school for the Commercial and Residential Wiring Program at LSC (Lake Superior College). I come from a low income household so I’ve learned to “DIY it” or find someone who was willing to teach me how to fix it myself since I couldn’t afford the labor to pay someone else to do it for me. Unfortunately there something’s that you shouldn’t DIY. One of those things happens to be upgrading your own electric or installing it yourself without the proper training. The electric in my mother’s home has not been updated since 2004. Which as of current isn’t bad, but in the future will need to be done. Since I unfortunately do not have the means to pay someone to do this I did the next best thing I know how to do, and that was to learn from someone else! I’m about to enter my second year(final year) in the CRW (Commercial and Residential Wiring) program and then start my apprenticeship hopefully with the union once I’m finish with school. The CRW program is currently giving me a good fundamental basis of how electricity works and the dangers of it and how to keep those dangers to a minimum. Once I graduate and start my apprenticeship with the union I will then start taking my first big steps into my career and more importantly gaining the knowledge to upgrade any electrical work I want to be done on my mothers house. Working on my mothers home has become more and more important to me as I get older, even while being on low income she did everything in power to make sure I had everything I needed and did her absolutely best to get me anything I wanted as well. I’m eternally grateful for my mother since not many have to go through what she went through, and she still did everything in her power to make sure I was happy. The least I can do is work towards a better future for the both of us. ( The photo I attached is of a project I was working on with a classmate on how to use a SPDT switch to run a small motor)

I’m currently a student at Lake Superior College studying to get my diploma in the Commercial Residential Wiring Program. I’ve lived in Northern Minnesota my entire life, and when you live in the country you learn a thing two about being hands on. Wether that was hauling wood, or tending to the garden, fixing a leaky pipe, replacing insulation inside our home, cooking family meals or changing the breaks on one of our family members vehicles we always made the best of it. Taking the Commercial and Residential Wiring program at Lake Superior College is helping me take my first few steps into my career of becoming a master electrician someday. Becoming a master electrician wasn’t the original goal though. It was to help my family. My mother has lived on low income for a majority of my life. She has a bad injury when I was little kid which ended up putting her on disability. Although we have never made much my mom never failed to make me feel like we had everything we could possibly need. As I started to get older I noticed some of the electrical work in our house wasn’t as up to date as some of the moderns homes I had seen. Concerned about this I decided to do the only thing I knew how to do and that was to fix the problem myself. My mother and I cannot afford to call an electrician and have our home inspected to see if everything is up to code, so I decided I would learn how to do it myself. Although this route will take longer I am learning a skill that can never be taken away from me and I will always be able to help my family in the future with any electrical issue they may have. This opportunity has also presented me with a life long career. I am working towards becoming an apprentice at either the Duluth or Iron Range electrical union. Joining the union will help me provide for not only myself, but my family as well. I will be able to pull my family and I out of poverty by make a living wage. I strive for my family to have more than the bare minimum. These may be the first stepping stones and some of the hardest, but they will make a world difference by the time I’m done.

When choosing a question from the list above I felt that the following suited me best: What are your personal goals and aspirations in the trades, and how will this scholarship help you achieve those goals? I originally applied for the Commercial and Residential Wiring Program at Lake Superior College back in 2023. I wasn't able to start until 2025 though due to the high waitlist for this program. Before joining this program I knew nothing about electricity and I had no past experience with it. I choose this field to help my mother. My mom is on low income and we live in a home that is little over a hundred years old. The electricity hasn't been updated since 2004. Although this isn't terrible at some point our home could potentially not be up to National Electrical Code (NEC) and that is a risk I am not willing to personal take. I have always had an interest in going into the trades because I love being hands on and want to do something productive with my time. Being an Electrician will not only benefits me, but will also benefits others in the future. I recently was able to speak with International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). This is a union group that came to Lake Superior College to teach us the benefits of joining the union. After speaking with IBEW they showed me that my time in this field is valuable especially for the high risk job that electricians do on a daily basis. My current goals are to first finish school at Lake Superior College, second join the union and start my apprenticeship, and 3rd become so comfortable working with residential wiring that I can upgrade the electric on my mothers house. These are not short term goals and they will take me an extensive amount of time, but by the end I will be able to say that I did it. Since this cannot be done over night, I do need some help along the way. As I stated before my mother is on low income, this last summer before starting school I was working three different jobs to help keep us afloat with groceries, propane, household necessities and others. Receiving scholarships has allowed to me quit two of the three jobs I was working so I could focus more heavily on my schooling. My future career is extremely important to me and will be providing a lifestyle that my family has never been able to experience. Scholarships will allow me to focus on schooling so that I am not consistently worried about how the next meal or bill will be paid in my household. I’m currently working towards a better future not only for myself and my family, but for the couple who just bought a new home, and when they walk in the front door they don’t have to think twice about the lights not turning on properly. For the future hospitals and business that will need to be built and specifically wired in a certain way so they are up to code. For all the future people of society that will not have to think about plugging their laptop into outlet or screwing in a light bulb. I’m doing this not only for me, but for them.