Career Change from Teaching to Electrician: Teresa’s Story

Sometimes, the most rewarding careers begin with a single conversation. For Teresa, that conversation set off a career change from teaching to electrician, a path she never saw coming.

From the Classroom Track to the Trade

Teresa never planned to become an electrician. After high school, she was studying to become a teacher while working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

One day, while working at a gas station, she watched a service technician quickly diagnose and repair a broken fuel pump before heading off to the next call. Seeing the confidence, skill, and opportunities that came with the trade sparked something in her.

Not long after, a conversation with a fellow female hockey referee changed everything. When Teresa mentioned she had been thinking about becoming an electrician, the referee encouraged her to pursue an apprenticeship and explained how to get started. That simple conversation gave her the confidence to take the leap.

It’s a common turning point for people weighing a planned career, like teaching, against the pull of hands-on, skilled work: someone already in the trade simply says, “here’s how you get started.”

In 2000, Teresa enrolled in an Electrical Foundations program, beginning what would become an incredible 25-year career (and counting!). She worked on major projects, including Vancouver’s Millennium Line SkyTrain, high-rise buildings, substations, wastewater treatment plants, and even the diamond mines in the Northwest Territories.

The Millennium Line, part of Metro Vancouver’s SkyTrain network, has been in service since 2002. It’s one example of the kind of large-scale infrastructure work an electrical career can span, from dense urban transit lines to remote northern job sites.

Along the way, mentors challenged her, supported her, and helped shape the electrician and the leader she is today.

Teaching Again, Just in a Different Classroom

Now, as an instructor at the EJTC, Teresa is passionate about doing the same for others. In a way, her original path and her current one have circled back together. The career that once seemed like the alternative to teaching has put her in front of a classroom after all, just one built around apprentices and hands-on trade skills instead of the traditional classroom she once trained for.

“When I was in high school, I didn’t even know the trades were an option,” Teresa says. “Now I want young people to know that this career can change their lives, just like it changed mine.”

Whether she’s teaching apprentices or visiting schools to introduce students to the skilled trades, Teresa is committed to opening doors for the next generation and showing them that there are many paths to a fulfilling career.

Her journey is proof that success doesn’t always come from having the perfect plan. Sometimes, it comes from saying yes to an unexpected opportunity and becoming the person who inspires someone else to do the same.

For anyone currently weighing a classroom career against a trade, Teresa’s own career change from teaching to electrician is a reminder that the two paths might not be as far apart as they seem.

Written by: Savannah Davis, ClearWater Communications Co.