From Knox to Maui, Electrical Trades alumnus says Mahalo for a terrific career

For most of us in the Northeast, the Hawaiian islands are a dream destination, a place of natural beauty that is rivaled only by the expense of living far from the mainland. Yet Kenny Clapper has built a successful business in Maui, one that affords his family a comfortable lifestyle and a solid future in a wavy economy. KC Electric is prospering, having its best year ever, in fact, and Clapper says he owes it all to the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School.

Clapper enrolled in the two-year Electrical Trades program as a Berne-Knox-Westerlo High School junior in 1983, because, as he related, “I knew what I wanted to do for a living since I was about 8 years old. Just lucky I guess.”

The knowledge he gained there transcended the technical realm. “One of the most important things that I learned is that trades people are smart,” said Clapper. “During my time in high school, if you went to BOCES, you were considered to have a lower IQ. While traditional high school students were gearing up for business school and college, I knew what I wanted to do, and BOCES advanced my goals quicker than if I had taken ‘normal’ high school classes. The teaching by book and hands-on approach taught me the electrical knowledge and skills I needed to join the workforce.”

Upon graduation, Clapper joined the Army, with an MOS, or job description, of 51R Electrician. Following Basic Training, he completed the normally nine-week Advanced Institute Training in less than nine days thanks to his Career & Tech education. “My instructors not only made me a peer instructor, but even asked me questions regarding electrical theory and field work,” he related.

Clapper was next assigned to Hawaii Schofield Barracks Bravo Company, 84th Engineer Battalion and after four months was deployed to Maui. Bravo Company was charged with building two large propagation pens for endangered birds. As Clapper’s “very first real-world project,” the assignment carried added responsibility. “I was just a Private E-2 and yet was placed in a role of electrical supervisor over people with higher rank.”

Clapper fell in love with Maui and decided to live there after completing his military service. He worked for three electrical contractors over a five-year span, taking his Journeyman [Electrician’s] certification exam after the first two years. “The test was quite easy,” he noted, “because of the BOCES classes and the real world experience I had accumulated.”

After five years working for others, Clapper was ready to start his own electrical contracting company. He filed all the necessary applications, passed the contractors license test, and KC Electric was born.

During the first eight years, Clapper carried out all of the field and office work himself, refining his skills and learning valuable lessons about business. He focused on commercial wiring and soon earned a reputation on Maui for speed and quality. He completed one of his first projects, a Whaler’s General Store remodel, in just 12 days rather than the scheduled 15; the general contractor has used his company ever since.

“One of the best jobs that I’ve ever completed was the ’90-day wonder’,” said Clapper. “I won a contract for a 5,000-square-foot Sansei Seafood restaurant. It was the largest project that I had done so far, and I was quite nervous about completing it in the 90-day timetable. I managed to complete the project within the allotted time, and to this day it is one of my most memorable jobs.”

Clapper now employs five men and “wears about five different hats in my company: office manager, estimator, project manager, accountant and electrician.” He is happiest, however, when he is “in the field and getting back to my real passion, electrical wiring.”

“The best advice I can give to any student who is interested in the electrical field is one thing: The world will always need electricians and plumbers. When construction gets slow, people still need electrical service work done. . . I opened my company during one of the slowest construction times ever, and yet I survived then and am doing even better now that commercial construction is booming.”

Clapper remains in touch with both his now-retired Electrical Trades teacher, Gary LaCourse, and with the program’s current teacher John Puglisi, to whom he’s extended a welcome for graduating seniors looking to start a rewarding career. “My company goal is to provide a great working environment for my employees. I like to help my employees grow by giving them an opportunity to tackle projects, and I challenge them to learn and do the best they can. I know that people can do anything they want; they just have to be given the chance.”

Though several time zones away from New York, Clapper remains connected to Career & Tech. “I still keep in touch with my [Electrical Trades] instructor and still ask him questions from time to time. Thank you, Gary LaCourse.” Clapper studied Electrical Trades from 1983-1985 at the Schoharie campus; the program is now based solely at the Albany campus

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