Sprinkler Fitting a Good Fit for 18-Year-Old Kelly
Elizabeth Kelly proudly explains she's a third-generation sprinkler fitter.

"My grandpa was a sprinkler fitter in Chicago. My dad is a sprinkler fitter. So that makes me a third generation sprinkler fitter," she says.

So it's not a big surprise she decided to follow in her family's footsteps. What may be a surprise is her certainty. With a rare focus, she explains her passion for the trade.

"I always knew this is what I wanted to do," Elizabeth says. "I knew when I finished high school this is what I wanted to do."

So after she graduated from Berkmar High School in Gwinnett County in May 2004, 18-year-old Elizabeth found the CEFGA/GFSA Sprinkler Fitting Apprenticeship Program on the internet. She enrolled and today is a Level 1 Sprinkler Fitting apprentice.

"The classes are great. Our instructor explains everything. He's patient. I feel like I am learning so much about the sprinkler industry," says Elizabeth. "And whatever I don't get in class, I can always go home and ask my dad."

Her dad is Jerry Kelly, who works with Property Engineering Services of Marietta. Elizabeth says she has learned a lot about the sprinkler industry just by being around her dad.

"I always begged my dad to let me work with him on the weekends. Over the summer, I changed out pipe, installed heads," she said. "Everyday I get to spend on the job is a learning experience."

Women make-up fewer than 5-percent of the construction trades. That doesn't seem to matter to Elizabeth. "I kind of like walking out onto a construction site and being the only girl. Sometimes they (the other sprinkler fitters) laugh at me, because I don't know how to do everything. But, I'm learning, and they usually offer to help."

CEFGA is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 by the Associated Builders and Contractors of Georgia (ABC). Today it is supported by more than 3,000 construction companies and trade associations. CEFGA exists to address and help reduce a growing shortage of skilled workers in Georgia - approximately 3,000 per year according to the Georgia Department of Labor. For information visit www.cefga.org or call 770-685-1332.