It’s championship season!

After building a great roster, staying on track after missed opportunities and close calls, and finishing with clutch performances, my Boston Celtics are hanging another banner.

Leading the NBA standings all season, the Celtics had to earn their place at the top. It took years to go from contender to champion, and it was worth it.

I’m pleased that we have another group here locally that’s ready to do the start down a championship path this summer at the Genesee Valley Pre-Apprenticeship Bootcamp.

We’re launching this year’s bootcamp on July 8 with our largest ever group of participants.

This summer, over a dozen from Genesee County and surrounding communities will have six-weeks of PAID on-the-job training with companies like US Gypsum, McCabe Electric and Craft Cannery. They gain hands-on experience, a deep understanding of what’s ahead, and start to realize their career goals.

In just six weeks, participants get started on a multi-year apprenticeship opportunity that will grow with their careers.

In addition to paid work in the field, students get 96 hours of classroom instruction at the Batavia Career & Technical Education Center’s mechatronics lab. This is where we just celebrated 100 graduates in the first 4 years of GV BOCES electro-mechanical trades program.

Pre-apprenticeship instruction features state-of-the-art training equipment, an environment that will bring students along as they gain experience and show their progress. Electrical basics, motor controls, hydraulics, pneumatics, and programmable logic controls are among the topics they will gain.

This is a great opportunity to get noticed and get ahead of their peers. After completing the bootcamp, many of our previous graduates have gone on to registered apprenticeship programs with their partnering employers.

That’s the path we see putting more and more students into “Make a Million in Mechatronics & Metal Trades”. You start early, and quickly build up your professional standing and wages.

These careers in electro-mechanical trades are in demand across all industries. With the skills gained in this program, graduates have their pick of opportunities in Genesee County and our region.

I’m excited to get this year’s program underway.

There’s always more work to be done. Do you have a graduate that’s not sure what to do after high school, or has a degree that they don’t have a path to use, or uncertain about their professional career?

That’s where  I excel. We recently launched a “7-Steps to a Great Genesee Career” checklist and getting started with a Career Coach is Step 1 whether you’re 14 or 24.

Set up a Coaching Session with myself and Dr. Sheila Eigenbrod by emailing me at [email protected], calling or texting me at 585-409-1301, or signing up at gcedc.com/careerchecklist.

- Chris “Coach SwazZ” Suozzi is the Vice President of Business & Workforce Development at the Genesee County Economic Development Center