Roundtable discussion focuses on work opportunities that pay students as they learn

After taking out loans and working $9 an hour jobs to pay her way through college, Sofia Thompson felt a bit lost. She had an associates degree in biology from Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana, but was looking for a job to earn some money before continuing her education.

That was when she and her mother decided to attend a job fair. What happened next changed her life.

“I went to a job fair and I walked out with a career,” Thompson said during a roundtable discussion in Albuquerque on Thursday.

While at the job fair, she enrolled in an apprenticeship program with the SMART Local Union 49 that allowed her to get paid and work while also receiving the necessary training. She is now living in New Mexico and is on her path to becoming an air test and balance technician.

She said she realized after joining the apprenticeship program that it was the work she wanted to do and that it could provide for her and help her support a family in the future.

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