Torran Cox, a 2018 graduate of Whitney M. Young Jr. Job Corps, now works for the International Union of Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers (BAC Local 4 IN/KY), making $24.64 an hour.  He lives in Louisville and travels each workday to Greenwood, IN, to work on the Clark-Pleasant Middle School project, working for Complete Masonry Service.

Cox is in the second year of a four-year bricklaying apprenticeship with the union that combines classroom instruction with actual on-the-job training and experience.  Once he completes the program, he will be a journeyman bricklayer, with the potential to earn up to $80,000 a year.  Wages for students enrolled in the BAC Apprenticeship program start at 50 percent of that a journey worker makes plus medical and pension benefits and pay increases as the apprentice works through the program.  Cox started the program in August 2018 at $13.79 an hours and has eight raises since then.

Upon completion of the apprenticeship program, students also will have earned an associate degree from Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana.

Cox, who is originally from Chattanooga, TN, already had his high school diploma when he enrolled at Whitney M. Young Jr. Job Corps.  Initially he was interested in the center’s welding program but during his trade shadow period where he learned about each of the training programs on center, he shadowed in brick masonry and found his passion.  While at Whitney M. Young Jr. Job Corps, Cox also completed the cement masonry training program and completed pre-apprenticeship classes through the union, which set him up for success in the apprenticeship program.

Although Cox faced a number of challenges and negative influences growing up, he knew he wanted more out of life.  He says that he found his art when he discovered the brick masonry trade.

The training he received at Job Corps has let to a career with the union and the ability to travel, something he wasn’t able to do growing up.  Job Corps also gave him the employability skills – such as good communication skills, professionalism, time management, a strong work ethic and leadership skills – he uses every day on the job.

Cox’s message to those considering the Job Corps program is direct: “If I can do it, you can do it.  Stay focused and figure out what you want.”  When he looks back at past struggles in his life, he is more determined than ever to succeed in his career and in his life.  But he also appreciates the life lessons he learned from those struggles.  “Without struggle, there is no progress,” he says.