In this candid episode, we sit down with Jess Slade, a fourth-year pipefitting apprentice at UA Local 502 in Louisville, KY. She’s a participant in the UA's Future Instructors program, part of an effort to train the next generation of trade educators from within the apprenticeship pipeline.

We discuss:

• How the Future Instructors program identifies apprentices with leadership potential and develops them into educators while they're still completing their training

• Why the industry's instructor shortage is just as urgent as its labor shortage, and how programs like this are addressing it

• The power of dual mentorship, where younger apprentices help veteran instructors adapt to new technology while learning trade skills in return

• How generational differences in learning styles, communication and emotional intellig ...