Hello, my name is Phillip Porter and I am a 27 year old student at Shasta Builders Exchange Trade School. Ever since I left college to help my father at the local woodworking plant in Hayfork, I have wanted to become an electrician. It wasn’t until I discovered the program at SBE that I found a realistic path to achieve my goal. I was born in the small town of Weaverville while my family was on vacation in Trinity County. I lived in San Pedro until I was 12, at which point both of my parents were incarcerated, so my sister and I moved to Hayfork to live with my grandmother. As a great grandmother who raised 5 children over her lifetime, she was not physically able to raise 2 more teenagers, so we were sent to live in a foster home. Two years later my father was released and moved to Hayfork so we could live with him. After finishing high school with honors, I attended Santa Barbara City College for a year, but even with financial aid was unable to keep up with the expenses of the school. Eventually I moved back to Hayfork to work at Jefferson State Forest Products, a struggling plant where my father was a supervisor. The plant closed down after a year, and was reopened as Trinity Mountain Products where I worked for 6 months before being laid off due to a shortage of work. I stayed busy working some labor and landscaping jobs until November of 2017 when I found out I had a child on the way. This inspired me to get back into school and finally pursue my dream.

I am now a second year electrical trainee, having finished each semester with an A and even being first in my class last semester. I also won the Ideal Electrical Competition event held at the school two years in a row and plan on competing every year. Life's challenges have taught me not to let anything stop me from reaching my goals. I hope to become a licensed electrician and own my own company one day, Emerald Electric, named after my daughter Emerald. Without my daughter or my wife I may have never decided to take the first step down the path toward my career goal. Thank you for considering me for the Charles Candelaria Memorial Fund and I would be honored to be a part of his legacy.