When President Joe Biden announced hundreds of commitments to bolster workforce development and infrastructure jobs by more than 350 organizations, including NTCA, representatives from CTC (Brainerd, Minn.) were on hand to not only see the press conference, but highlight the importance of fiber.
CTC CEO Kristi Westbrock and Splicing Technician Jeremy Przybilla flew to Washington, D.C. to join NTCA CEO Shirley Bloomfield at the White House and highlight three new partnerships as part of the White House’s Talent Pipeline Challenge, designed to promote jobs in infrastructure-related fields.
Upon arriving at the White House, the CTC team set up a table in the Red Room and showed everyone in attendance how to splice fiber.
“The whole experience was kind of neat,” Przybilla said. “Going through Secret Service TSA-style check points with all my tools and seeing their reaction to that stuff going through their scanner, I wish I could’ve recorded that. Their eyes just lit up.”
In addition to teaching how to splice fiber, the duo learned about the paintings hung throughout the White House and how its decorations (from rugs to furniture to dishes) are selected by each incoming president. Westbrock and Przybilla then saw the president’s speech from the East Room.
“The Army Major overseeing our room said that there are no ordinary days in the White House, every day is extraordinary, because if you’re in the White House, you’re part of history,” Przybilla said. “It was kind of true. How many others have taught how to splice fiber in the Red Room at the White House?”
Westbrock also enjoyed the historic day and celebration of an incoming pipeline of talent and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.
“[The visit] really doesn’t happen without the team that we have at CTC,” she said. “While Jeremy and I were the ones who were there, that invite doesn’t happen if [CTC staff is] not really good at what [they] do. It was a really cool experience.”