Why your high schooler’s ‘hands-on’ habit is Nebraska’s brightest future

As we navigate the landscape of 2026, I often find myself speaking with parents who are at a bit of a crossroads. Their high school juniors are bright and curious, yet they aren’t necessarily sold on the traditional four-year desk job path. If this sounds like your household, I want to offer a perspective from the front lines of Nebraska’s infrastructure: your child isn’t just “good with their hands”—they are the strategic solution to a rapidly changing economy.

The Degree

Dilemma: AI and the Race Against

Irrelevance

The elephant in the room for every 2026 graduate is Artificial Intelligence (AI). We are witnessing a historic shift where a four-year degree—the very thing my generation was told was a “safe bet”—is being disrupted before the ink on the diploma is dry. According to recent 2025–2026 labor market analyses, entry-level white-collar roles have seen a 13% relative decline in employment as companies integrate AI to handle data, research, and coding (Stanford Digital Economy Lab).

For a student starting a four-year program today, there is a very real risk of graduating with a skill set that was relevant in 2023 but has since been “AI’d”. National surveys now show that 49% of Gen Z job seekers believe AI has already reduced the value of their college education (National University).

Compare this to the electrical trade. You cannot “download” a journeyman to wire a new hospital in McCook or troubleshoot a complex industrial automation system. While software roles face automation, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that electrician jobs will grow 3 times faster than the national average through 2034, driven by the electrification of the economy.

“We aren’t just looking for workers; we are looking for the next generation of professional electricians,” I often tell families. “The career path for an apprentice today leads to a level of job security that a computer screen simply can’t replicate. You can’t automate what we do.”

Nebraska’s Growing Demand

In Nebraska, this demand is even more localized and urgent. According to the Nebraska Department of Labor’s latest High Wage, High Skill, and High Demand (H3) rankings, electricians have climbed to the number six spot for the 2022–2032 projection period. Fortunately, Nebraska’s community college system is the engine driving our workforce forward. However, the graduation numbers show that we are still hungry for more talent. Based on the most recent institutional snapshots, here is how some schools I recruit from are contributing to the pipeline:

Nebraska Electrical Program Graduates (Annual Est. Based on 2025 CCPE Data)

· Northeast Community College (NECC) 52 electricians

· Southeast Community College (SCC) 45 electricians

· Central Community College (CCC) 20 electricians

· Mid-Plains Community College (MPCC) 18 electricians

While these institutions provide world-class training, they collectively produce fewer than 200 graduates annually—barely enough to cover the hundreds of vacancies we see across the central and western edge of the state.

The Innovation

at MPCC

The commitment to solving this shortage is visible in brick-and-mortar. This February 2026, Mid-Plains Community College celebrated the ribbon-cutting of its brand-new Electrical Technology Building on the North Platte campus. This state-of-the-art facility nearly doubles the instructional space, allowing students to move into a high-tech lab environment that mirrors the job sites we run at Snell Services. By integrating Electrical Technology with Automation Control, MPCC is ensuring that an apprentice is just as ready for the electrical workforce as a five-year-old is for ice cream on July 4th.

A Message to Parents

As someone who works in human resources at Snell Services, I spend a great deal of time speaking with students, parents, and community colleges about the opportunities available in Nebraska’s electrical trade. If your son or daughter is the one always taking apart the toaster, asking how solar panels work, or showing a knack for logic and math, those interests may be pointing toward a rewarding career path. An apprenticeship offers the chance to earn while learning, often with little or no student debt, and the demand for skilled electricians across Nebraska continues to grow. If you would like to learn more about what that path can look like, I would be glad to visit with you.