By Melissa | Raceway Electric
I graduated from our local high school in 1997. My husband Mike, the class of ‘96. So when I walked back through those doors for the senior awards night, it hit a little differently than I expected.
The gym was full of the kind of pride I remember from back then: parents in the bleachers, kids dressed up, that particular energy of a night that feels like it matters. And it did matter. I was there with a group of local business owners and community members, all of us representing the Santee Chamber Foundation for Good, a relatively new organization doing something I wish had existed when we were sitting in those seats: handing out trade scholarships to kids who are choosing a different kind of path.
As I watched my peers walk up on stage to deliver five of those scholarships, I caught a glimpse of two teachers off to the side. A metals teacher and an autobody teacher. They were beaming: the kind of smile you can’t fake, the kind that comes from watching someone you believed in get recognized in front of their whole community. I won’t forget that.
When Mike and I were in school, nights like this were mostly for the kids headed to four-year universities. The college-track students got the ceremonies, the recognition, the spotlight. The kids who were going to go build things, fix things, wire things, weld things: they kind of just graduated and moved on.
That’s what made this night feel so meaningful. It wasn’t just scholarships. It was a statement: this path matters too.
I went the college route myself: a private university, a degree in design and marketing, which is eventually what brought me to the business side of Raceway Electric. Mike took a completely different road.
He started working at 14: out at a local egg ranch, then a string of other jobs. He was always the kid making something: skateboard ramps in the backyard, tearing apart an old VW just to get it running. Mechanically, he was already wired that way. When it came time to choose a direction, he chose electrical work: not because it was handed to him, but because it fit who he was.
He started with Berg Electric, one of the larger contractors in the area, went through ABC and earned his journeyman license, and eventually stepped into the family business his dad had kept running as a one-man shop. That business is Raceway Electric. Mike and I took it from there, and building it together into what it is today is something we’re both really proud of. What the trade gave him wasn’t just a career: it gave his natural abilities and the same hands that built skateboard ramps and tore apart old VWs a place to truly thrive.
Two different paths. One roof. It works pretty well.
We raised our kids inside all of this. They grew up watching both sides: Mike out in the field, me handling the design, marketing, and business operations. They knew what the trade looked like from the inside.
They chose differently. One went on to private school, the other to SDSU for engineering. We couldn’t be more proud of either of them.
And that’s exactly the point I want to make.
We didn’t raise them to follow our footsteps. We raised them to find their own. The fact that they saw both a trade career and a college career up close, and still went their own direction, is the whole goal. They knew their options. They made informed choices. That’s what you’re actually raising them for.
What made that awards night stick with me goes deeper than just the room. We are surrounded by people who have built incredible lives in the trades: HVAC, roofing, autobody, machine shops, metal fabrication. A remarkable number of people Mike grew up with are now thriving business owners in the skilled trades. And just as many went on to universities and built stellar careers there too. We see both worlds up close, and we have a lot of respect for both.
Every path represented in that room on awards night was a valid one.
We got involved with the Santee Chamber Foundation for Good because it felt right to reinvest in the community that built us. If you’re a local business owner and want to be part of something that’s genuinely making a difference for the next generation: this one is worth looking into.
If you’re a parent trying to figure out how to guide your kid, or a student genuinely drawn to working with your hands and solving real problems, I’d say this: don’t let anyone make you feel like the trades are the backup plan. For a lot of people we love and respect, it was the best plan. The one that fit.
And if your kid is eyeing a four-year degree? Wonderful. Cheer them on as loud as you can.
The goal isn’t one path. The goal is that they choose a path: with intention, with information, and with the confidence to own it.
That’s what those scholarship kids were doing up on that stage. And honestly, it was one of the cooler things I’ve been part of in a long time.
Raceway Electric is a family-owned electrical contractor based in Santee, CA. We’re proud to support the Santee Chamber Foundation for Good. Learn more about the foundation →