The Missouri Rural Water Association (MRWA) announced it will be celebrating the U.S. Department of Labor’s sixth annual National Apprenticeship Week.

According to a news release, National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) was established by the U.S. Department of Labor to showcase the impact apprenticeships have on helping Americans learn skills for jobs in growing industries. Hundreds of NAW events and activities will be taking place all over the country and include open houses, skill competitions, community forums, apprentice graduations, high school and college career fairs, apprenticeship signing days, industry roundtable events and more.

This year’s NAW runs through November 14.

MRWA’s Apprenticeship Program for Water and Wastewater Operations Specialists launched its first class of six apprentices in February 2019. All six of those apprentices are water operations specialists. In May 2020, MRWA welcomed its second class of apprentices in the Kansas City area. June 2020 marked the beginning of the third class. With the addition of the two new 2020 classes of apprentices, the number of MRWA’s apprentices has jumped from the original six to 42. The apprentices are mentored on the job by senior staff of the utility in which they are employed.

Additionally, the apprentices participate in monthly classes provided by MRWA. These classes complement their everyday on-the-job training with classroom training and in-depth demonstration/hands-on training of tools and techniques used in the industry.