Apprenticeship Appreciation Month on Tech Tuesday

By Jerry Anhorn

Published November 12, 2023 at 10:29 AM MST

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This month on Tech Tuesday host Dean Jerry Anhorn welcomes Paul Dickey, Apprenticeship Coordinator for ISU Continuing Ed, and Tana Christensen, CEO of Platinum Plumbing, for a conversation about Apprenticeship Appreciation Month. They also take a moment to remember an industry leader, Rick Newlin, who recently passed away.

Tana Christensen is the owner of Platinum Plumbing and Directional Drilling, a successful plumbing business that she operates with her husband in Southeast Idaho. Tana is the organizer of the Rick Newlin Endowment for the Plumbing Apprenticeship Program, a scholarship effort to commemorate her late friend Rick who impacted so may lives in the local plumbing industry. On the show, Tana discusses her spirit of giving, the demand for qualified local plumbers, and the incredible career opportunities that plumbing has to offer. With a degree in Communications, Tana decided to pursue licensed plumbing as a trade, after seeing the exponential demand in her family business.
Paul Dickey is the Apprenticeship Coordinator for the Continuing Education and Workforce Training program at Idaho State University. Over the past 7 years, Paul has coordinated the program delivery of apprenticeship programs at ISU, including those in Electrical Apprenticeship, Plumbing Apprenticeship, and Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning, also known as HVAC, Apprenticeship programs. Paul discusses demand for local plumbers, and how apprenticeships offer students applied learning pathways to in demand career opportunities.