Sokaogon Chippewa Community Chairman Robert VanZile, Nicolet College President Kate Ferrell, and Director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards David Polk sit at a table at the college signing an agreement that will launch a Broadband Service Technician apprenticeship program.
“We're all working together with one common goal,” said VanZile.
The Northwoods has seen improvements to broadband coverage in recent years. Still areas remain underserved, especially in Forest and Florence Counties.
The Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa Community launched a $72-million project this year to bring high-speed internet to the region and not just for tribal members. The Tribe is working to create a 900-mile fiber optic cable network over the next four years to serve high-speed internet to roughly 4,600 homes in and around Forest County.
The tribe is now partnering with Nicolet College and the Department of Workforce Development to launch an apprenticeship program to help train the workers needed for the project.
Chairman VanZile sees the apprenticeship program as a key part of accomplishing this goal while creating good-paying jobs for people in the region.
“Those jobs can help create greater access to broadband, high-speed internet, with greater access to telehealth, education, economic development, and a variety of other life-sustaining future-building opportunities in our counties,” said Van Zile.
The one-year program is a registered apprenticeship program. They receive on the job-training from their employer while taking courses at Nicolet.
Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Jeff Labs says programs like this give employers someone with a more well-rounded education and skillset and it gives apprentices an opportunity to earn while they’re learning.
“The idea is not to be just good at one thing. It's not just to be like, ‘Oh, I can put fiber in the ground.’ But guess what? When emergencies happen, ‘I have the skill sets’, or ‘My employee has the skill sets’ that now they can also go out and maintain it. They can repair it. They can get that back up and running for the customers,” said Labs.
Nicolet College is taking applications this fall and expects to launch the Broadband Service Technician Apprenticeship Program in the Spring of 2027.
This will be Nicolet College’s fifth apprenticeship program.
There were more than 18,000 apprentices in Wisconsin’s registered apprenticeship program with more than 3,000 employers last year. It’s grown in numbers for four straight years.
Director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards David Polk thinks that growth is a combination of the need for skilled workers and investments made into the apprenticeship programs.
“I think it's not only serendipitous but strategic by different industries to say, ‘Hey, we're going to start the process of growing our own talent,’” said Polk.
Polk said it’s “very new” to see a partnership like this between a tribe and technical college. He called it a “very creative, but also very welcome solution” to the lack of broadband problem across the Northwoods.
“Apprenticeship has such a high retention rate for the employer,” said Polk. “It only makes sense to utilize that to help keep those folks in the communities that they live in.”
Wisconsin offers registered apprenticeships in more than 200 occupations. Polk said they’re always trying to expand. He recommends any businesses interested in an apprenticeship to reach out to the Bureau of Apprenticeship Standards.
