CACTUS Pilot Program Introducing Young Students to the Trades
Channel: ElectricTV
Date: 21/06/2018

The NECA/IBEW Powering America Team of the Arizona Chapter of NECA, IBEW Local 640, and Phoenix Electric JATC have partnered with Madison Park Middle School to create the CACTUS Program (Careers in Architecture, Construction, and Trades Uplifting Students). 6th – 8th-grade students work together with electrical industry professionals to bring electrical construction projects to life.

The pilot project for the CACTUS Program – solar-powered dog houses! 

For these middle school students, meeting and working with the men and women of the NECA/IBEW Powering America Team makes a career in the electrical industry that much more tangible. 

The project culminated in an auction where people were able to come bid on the finished dog houses. All proceeds made from the event go right back to the CACTUS program. 

This event was a perfect example of being able to see your hard work pay off. The students worked as a team to create the dog houses and are now seeing the fruits of their labor being shared with the community. A journeyman wireman works on hospitals, high-rises, water treatment plants, stadiums, wind and solar farms – you name it. Each and every day they are able to walk off the job seeing what they were able to accomplish that day. 

The NECA/IBEW Powering America Team would like the thank our CACTUS Program sponsors: Milwaukee Tool, Border States, Independent Electric Supply, 3M, Cannon & Wendt, Rosendin, and Gilbane. Thank you for helping us teach these students that the electrical industry is a path to a great career.