Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center

With 23 years of service as a cement mason with OPCMIA Local 797, and another 4.5 years with the National Plastering Industry’s Joint Apprenticeship Trust Fund, Jeff Wagner brings a wealth of experience and expertise to the Job Corps program. Working with Job Corps students “has given me a feeling of accomplishment that I have shared my knowledge with our younger generation and to know I have made a difference in their lives,” he said.

A 1994 graduate of the Sierra Nevada Job Corps Center, James Obregon became an apprentice with OPCMIA Local 241 in Reno. He graduated in 1998 and worked as a plasterer for many years. Since 2007, he has worked as a Plastering Instructor. “Being that my career began as a trainee at Sierra Nevada Job Corps, I felt like being an instructor would be a great way to give back to where I started,” he said. “As a journeyman plasterer, I liked working with apprentices and passing down knowledge as a few journeymen in Reno passed down to me. Being an instructor has really made a difference in my career because my instructor, Carl Rademan, is a huge influence on me. I try and walk in his steps and give back as he did for me as a trainee.”

A 20-year journeyperson with OPCMIA Local 797, Ricardo Mora also served as his Local’s organizer, and as an apprenticeship instructor before becoming a cement mason instructor at the Sierra Nevada JCC in September 2022. “When I graduated high school, I did not know what I wanted to do in life,” he said. “I wanted to be an artist or a teacher. I made some good money on a concrete job, so I went straight to the Union Hall. Now, as an instructor, I will be home more, no more working nights and extra-long hours, and I get to spend more time with my family. So I am now doing what I wanted to do when I graduated—I’ve come ‘full Circle.’”