SECOND SHIFT · WEEKLY ROUNDUP
Week of Oct. 16–22, 2026. A thin week for named outcomes, so two entries come from a story published Oct. 14.
Jeremy Hill, Charlottesville, Va.: from a high school trade center to an auto-tech apprenticeship. Hill, 20, once figured he would go to a four-year college. Instead he took classes at the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center as a junior, graduated from high school in 2025 and went to work as an auto technician apprentice at Carter Myers Automotive in Charlottesville, one of about 30 apprentices there, WMRA reports. His days are mostly alignments, oil changes, fluid exchanges and brake service, and he has taken on heavier exhaust work. He told WMRA he realized “this is something that I could really do for the rest of my life.”
Original reporting by Christine Phelan Kueter, WMRA, Oct. 14, 2026. Read the story →
Greg Weaver, Charlottesville, Va.: from tech and office jobs to electrical apprentice. Through his 20s and 30s, Weaver made more than $80,000 a year in tech and administrative jobs, according to WMRA. An interest in green energy pulled him toward the trades. Now 39, he is halfway through an apprenticeship and works as an electrical apprentice at the University of Virginia, alongside lead electrician Cody Borrelli, who has held that job at the university for 16 years. Weaver described the move as “wanting to make a difference in that realm with my hands.”
Original reporting by Christine Phelan Kueter, WMRA, Oct. 14, 2026. Read the story →
Nereo Vera Jr., Marshall, Texas: from barber school to owning the building. Vera, who goes by Junior, started out cutting his brothers’ hair at home, then their friends’. He went to barber school in 2011, worked at another shop, then rented a building to open his own and bought it two years later, the Marshall News Messenger reports. Texas Finest Barber Shop on East Austin Street now rents stations to 12 barbers and two tattoo artists, and Vera recently bought the building next door. He says the shop has created jobs for him and 15 other people. “If we can jumpstart somebody’s business, I think that’d be amazing,” he said.
Original reporting by Lia Portillo, Marshall News Messenger, Oct. 16, 2026. Read the story →
The pattern this week
Both Charlottesville workers got into the trades through employers that train their own people: a dealership group carrying about 30 apprentices and a public university bringing up its own electricians. One came straight out of a high school career-tech center and the other left a well-paid office career at 39, and both are drawing a paycheck while they learn. Vera’s path is older and less formal, and it shows how far a trade license can go once the barber owns the chairs. Our read: in a midsize market like Charlottesville, the employers running apprentice benches are doing much of the region’s workforce development. This is Location Decision’s analysis; the facts are as reported by the credited outlets.
Second Shift tells the stories of people building what’s next through new skills, new careers and second chances. From the Field items are curated from credited reporting, with Location Decision’s perspective. Location Decision Originals are independently reported by our team.
This item was sourced and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed under Location Decision’s editorial standards. Second Shift tracks workforce outcomes to inform our broader editorial analysis. All reporting belongs to the credited journalists; read the original story for the full account.