The Apprentice Perspective

In this episode of The Apprentice Perspective, it’s Ambassador on Ambassador. Jarrod Gayheat, a Service Tech with Birkey’s, talks with Zack Thurman, A Precision Farming Specialist, with Birkey’s. Zack is a 2025 alumni of the Apprentice Ambassador program while Jarrod is a current Apprentice Ambassador. After graduating high school Jarrod worked for a couple different companies before eventually ex...

Beril Mese, a second year Service Analyst apprentice at Allstate, originally studied music. She realized after graduating that the only path forward was academia and knew that wasn’t where she wanted to be. During her twenties she took a series of customer service jobs before pivoting to technology after teaching herself to code during the pandemic. She knew she was on the right path then but ran...

Revolution Workshop is a nonprofit out of Chicago that is truly living up to its name. It began as a way to help Black and Brown people, and in particular women, enter construction and earn family-sustaining wages. What they realized was the issue of unemployment for underserved Chicago communities went deeper than just trying to find a job. Many of the clients they worked with had the same hurdle...

The WBLA Catalysts Initiative is an award bestowed by the Work-Based Learning and Apprenticeship Committee of the IWIB to recognize excellence in work-based learning programming.  Meet the inaugural winners of this award, Elgin Community College (ECC), represented by Dr. Gina De rosier-Cook, Dean of Workforce Development, and Elissa Kojzarek, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Experiential Lea...

Gavin Carman, a Second Year Client Services Apprentice at Aon in Bannockburn, Illinois, spent a lot of time thinking while working as a delivery person. At 25, he knew the career path he was on wasn’t sustainable, but he had already tried schooling in a more traditional way. A Google search led him to an apprenticeship, where he found the opportunity he had been searching for, one where he could n...

Sania Kamani, a Second Year Apprentice in the Claims Admin Department at Zurich North America in Schaumburg, Illinois, set her sights on apprenticeship in high school. Though discouraged at first, through determination and drive she graduated high school with honors and entered the apprenticeship program, where she found community, mentorship, and gained experience. Kamani is a member of the 2026...

John Williams, a Senior Analyst at Accenture in Chicago, had to convince his parents that he had a job when he joined a paid apprenticeship at age 19. Little did they know that this position would give him the training, mentorship, and camaraderie he needed to thrive. Williams is a member of the 2026 cohort of Illinois Apprentice Ambassadors. He is joined in conversation by Co-Chair of the Illinoi...