Joe Sams is currently an apprentice power plant mechanic at Glen Canyon Dam and Power Plant in Page, Arizona.
April 30, 2025, is National Apprenticeship Day, a time to spotlight the transformative power of registered apprenticeship programs in shaping a brighter future for America’s workforce and economy. This annual celebration unites a diverse range of partners to champion the successes and values of apprenticeship programs to foster a highly skilled workforce tailored to meet evolving industry demands, while paving career pathways for aspiring professionals.
A shining example of this mission in action is the Power Office Apprenticeship Program in Reclamation’s Upper Colorado Basin Region that started more than 25 years ago.
It offers training in the crafts of electrician, electronics mechanic (technician), powerhouse mechanic, and power plant operator at the Glen Canyon, Flaming Gorge and Curecanti field divisions in Arizona, Utah and Colorado, respectively. The Curecanti Field Division Office includes management of Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, Crystal, Upper Molina, and Lower Molina dams and power plants.
The program requires 8,000 hours of education and on-the-job skills training, with 620 of those hours dedicated to theoretical training in a classroom or online. The rest of the hours are spent learning and demonstrating skills of the trade to a professional level. As a result, it can take a participant 2 to 4 years to complete the program depending on the pacing each apprentice wants to keep and the experience and skills they bring to the program.
For example, Oran Hatch, a journeyman power plant mechanic at Flaming Gorge Dam and Power Plant in Dutch John, Utah, had previous experience as a wind turbine technician when he joined Reclamation in 2015. By combining his previous experience with his motivation to push the pace of his training, Hatch graduated from the program in just 2 years.
“I had a really good experience,” Hatch said. “I had good journeymen around me. Everyone was willing to teach me. It was a great opportunity.”
Hatch now works as the Flaming Gorge Field Division’s power plant mechanic.
“I really enjoy doing the work. It keeps me very, very busy,” Hatch said.
A.P. Kelly, a journeyman power plant mechanic with the Glen Canyon Field Division, has been with Reclamation since 2004 and completed the program in 2016.
“During my apprenticeship, we tore down and reassembled generators for turbine replacement, so I received a lot of experience with that project,” said Kelly. “[The program] is a good opportunity to advance your career with the Bureau of Reclamation.”
The program was set up between Power Office officials acting as representatives of the Federal government, and the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers Local #2159 trade union. The program was registered with the Department of Labor originally in 1997 and later updated in 2018.
“This program was modeled after a program that uses the Navy nuclear training approach,” said UCBR Deputy Power Manager Bob Martin.
Martin helped develop and implement the UCBR program soon after he started working for Reclamation at Glen Canyon Dam. He based the program on an Army Corps of Engineers apprenticeship program in Washington, in which he had previously participated, that borrowed the training techniques from U.S. Navy trade skills training programs.
“The [UCBR] program combines academic learning and hands-on learning,” said Martin. “Apprentices have to learn and demonstrate certain skills and tasks before they can pass off that skill and move to the next ones. Keeping track on a qualifications card means that all the apprentices are getting trained the same way and with the same methods and skills, which means they will be able to work on any of our power plants because they will have had the same training, speak the same trade language, and understand the same procedures as the rest of our skilled work force, no matter which facility they are assigned to.”
Cody Ripka, an electronic technician apprentice at Glen Canyon Dam, started the apprenticeship program in 2019 and is part of the first class that started after the updated program was instituted.
“Overall, the program has been rich in teaching and learning,” said Ripka. “We learn our on-the-job tasks here locally and have supplemental material that we self-learn through online classes.”
Ripka offered the following advice to those thinking about applying for the apprenticeship program, “I recommend you get a head start and ask those that you work with in those various crafts — operators, mechanics, electricians — questions about how the plant really operates. We all know we use water to generate electricity, but do you know what actually goes into making that electricity and all of the various sub-components that you wouldn’t think about?”
After graduation from the program, Ripka hopes to stay at Glen Canyon Dam “to keep learning the job and become a better journeyman.”
The UCBR Power Office Apprenticeship Program has nine apprentices enrolled in the program and the region employs at least five graduates of the program.
“It gives me confidence that the apprentices we are turning out are going to be well-equipped to maintain the assets at our plants,” added Martin.
For more information about the apprenticeship program or to learn more about how to apply, contact Bob Martin at rmartin@usbr.gov.
