Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Riley Shoemaker, wearing dress pants and donning long curly hair, heartily spoke Thursday night in Sunset Auditorium with an ease beyond his 18 years. He had been a speaker at his Barry Goldwater High School graduation and had entertained scholarship offers from numerous colleges.
Diego Rodriguez, wearing jeans and a cowboy hat, next carefully read from the heart. He stocked at Walmart and had been summoned to the hot summer sun with his father in landscaping as a way to tell him there was a cooler way to earn a living.
The speakers at the Summer 2025 Night of Celebration illustrate the diversity among 42 participants who completed the 11-week summer cohorts for the Manufacturing Specialist Intensive pathway and the Undergraduate Certificate for Electricians program at Grand Canyon University’s Center for Workforce Development.
Family and friends were on hand to celebrate their certificates and that many are already in the front of the line for potential jobs with the program’s sponsors, McCarthy Building Companies and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
Shoemaker said at age 2 his father asked him to play a video game with him. “I didn't realize at the time that my controller wasn't even turned on, but I loved it anyway.”
He was so taken, he built a computer by the time he was school-aged. “I've always been hands on and curious to figure things out,” he said.
Shoemaker also saw his father suffer after an automobile accident left him struggling. For part of his early childhood, it was just the two of them.
“I realized it was immensely troubling to be in a situation like that and to take care of a child along with life itself. Those early experiences shaped me,” he said.
It taught him self-reliance and responsibility. It taught him to think for himself.
So when he heard about the semiconductor technician opportunity at GCU, he decided to forgo a four-year degree program. He could learn so much on the job, helping the company that makes microchips, one that came to GCU to administer its only training program for a specific technician job that it needs to fill.
“The chips are in everything,” Shoemaker said later of his decision to join the GCU pathway. “I get to make what you use.”
He was clearly excited about his future during his speech, saying he was proud to be part of the first semiconductor class through the workforce center, and it has changed his career trajectory.
“Developing technology is one of the clearest paths to peace and promise,” he said. “When we are making microchips, we are developing tools for emergency services, the prevention of crime or even natural disasters. I want to be a part of that mission.
“Most people have no idea how these technologies work, despite relying on them every single day, and that feels like a superpower to me. No matter where I go, I will carry this knowledge with me. This kind of work feels like the right place for me.”
He will be testing for a technician job at TSMC soon, he said, part of the workforce center’s efforts to fill the need in trades.
“We are seeing in the world today a dramatic rebirth in construction and manufacturing skills, remembering that it takes highly skilled people to turn ideas into reality,” said Paul Lambertson, dean of GCU’s College of Engineering and Technology. “A thing doesn’t just happen because somebody dreams it; a thing happens because somebody has the power to build it.”
Rodriguez is turning his dreams into reality, though on a different path than Shoemaker.
He said he had been working since age 5, helping his father in his landscaping business, and began stocking shelves at Walmart by age 16. He also played the accordion ... badly.
Then he found out about the GCU program for electricians from a co-worker.
“What ultimately drove me to the program was the desire to build a family someday and knowing I will be able to support them,” he said.
One of the biggest takeaways from the program was “helping us become the best version of ourselves.”
His father helped with that, too, he said afterward.
“My dad is in landscaping, and he would take me out in the heat. He did it for me just to see what it is like. He wanted me to have a desk job,” he said. “I’d like to think this is the best of both worlds. I still get to work with my hands.”
He told the crowd that during his courses at the center, which will continue with programs and pathways starting in the next few weeks for electricians, semiconductor technicians, construction workers and computer numerical control technicians, he discovered a passion for the work.
He starts his job with McCarthy at the end of August.
“What excites me the most is working on something larger than myself, whether working on a hospital or a school, or any other building or project, I will be able to drive by someday and say, ‘I built that.’”
GCU senior writer Mike Kilen can be reached at [email protected]
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