Alaska Works Partnership

Kotzebue Training Leads to Pipeline Job

  When Oliver Reed returned from the war
in Iraq to his Native village of Kiana, he knew he wanted to settle down. He wanted to gain skills and go to work at a job with good pay and benefits. Yet training and jobs are hard to come by in the NANA region, a 38,000 square mile area north of the Arctic Circle. So when Reed learned about Alaska Works Partnership’s welder helper training taking
place in Kotzebue in September, he applied.
  Anthony Tickett of Ambler also applied with hopes of someday entering a trade
apprenticeship. The welder helper training
provided instruction and hands-on experience in rigging, soldering, cutting and other welding skills. Alaska Works Partnership partnered with the NANA Regional Corporation, Alaska Technical
Center, and Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 375 to provide the training and introduce students to this career field in the trades.
  “This training was directly related to pipeline work,” said John Plutt instructor from the Fairbanks Plumbers and Pipefitters JATC apprenticeship program . “All the students were very enthusiastic; it was a great class with great participation.”
  Cheryl Edenshaw, Director of the Alaska Technical center in Kotzebue said that AWP’s welder helper training is what people of rural communities have been asking for. She added that it was a great fit with training already offered by the Center.
  Kristin Patrick, Shareholder Development Manager for NANA said, “We love to be able to offer training opportunities to our shareholders. Our region has a need for job skills in the villages. It’s so valuable to be able to earn an income in places where gasoline is as high as eight dollars a gallon.”
  After being accepted and attending the training in Kotzebue, Reed and Tickett, were selected from ten graduates to participate in the annual pipeline training event in Fairbanks in October. From there they hope not only to build their own careers, but to help build Alaska.
  Reed said he looks forward to going to work. “I know someone who finished anapprenticeship a couple of years ago and he’smaking a good living,” he said.
  Likewise, Tickett hopes to learn the skills that will earn him a job at Prudhoe Bay. “What I liked most about the welder helper class was the opportunity to go to work afterward,” he said.
  Last year Alaska’s Legislature approved several hundred million dollars for schools, roads and other infrastructure projects. Private sector construction is growing and federal investment in rural and military construction remains steady. Meanwhile North Slope oil producers are investing hundreds of millions in pipeline and oilfield service projects.
  Randy Cheap, Field Representative for Alaska Works Partnership said, “This training represents AWP’s primary mission to link people in rural Alaska to opportunities in the construction trades. We prepare people for work in their communities and throughout Alaska ”