June 25, 2026
June 25, 2026
Gabby Labbe couldn't read well until grade seven. Today, she works on equipment most electricians will never touch, writes the manuals her own crew learns from, and runs the study group that pulled a roomful of her classmates up with her. That arc, from the student who had to fight for every concept to the apprentice others now turn to, is exactly why we're proud to name Gabby one of our 2026 Dakota Prep Fellows.
She was chosen in the program's second year not for a perfect transcript, but for what she does with what she knows. Gabby was selected for her commitment to helping peers succeed, and her story is a reminder that the most valuable people in any trade are often the ones who remember how hard it was to learn.
Gabby originally wanted to be a teacher. She has always enjoyed helping others learn and succeed, an instinct shaped by her own experience: growing up with learning disabilities, she struggled in school until she built the study habits and resilience that eventually let her excel. She wanted to give other students that same confidence.
A desk job, it turned out, didn't suit her. After talking with teachers about the realities of the profession and briefly considering the medical field, she found her answer in the electrical trade.
"I chose the electrical trade because it offers hands on, labor intensive work while remaining intellectually stimulating."
The moment it clicked was small and specific. During her foundations program, wiring a three-way switch, she realized she'd found the right career. She still gets the same satisfaction today from troubleshooting and the daily challenge of working with high-voltage equipment.
Now a registered apprentice with SkilledTradesBC, Gabby completed her second-year electrical training at Thompson Rivers University and is a third-term apprentice at BC Hydro, based on Vancouver Island. Her days are spent on high-voltage maintenance at a substation, working on equipment that ranges from 12,000 all the way to 500,000 volts, handling protection and switching tasks where the margin for error is thin and the safety protocols are absolute.
She chose this path deliberately. Gabby prefers industrial work to residential, drawn to its theoretical rigor, stronger union representation, higher safety standards, and a more deliberate pace than the "plug and play" feel she associates with residential wiring.
What sets her apart is not just that she works on uncommon systems, but that she understands them well enough to teach them. At the Vancouver Island Terminal, she created a resource she titled "Synchronous Condensers for Dummies." Synchronous condensers are older, specialized machines that few apprentices ever encounter, so Gabby built a foundational guide to help new crew members feel comfortable and informed when they meet the equipment for the first time. It is a small act of generosity with a big footprint: she is documenting institutional knowledge that might otherwise walk out the door.
Her troubleshooting instincts are just as sharp. Faced with a DC ground fault at a substation originally built in the 1940s, Gabby worked methodically through the massive site by process of elimination, isolating section after section until she traced the problem to a single faulty fuse connection in the yard, resolving a fault that had been genuinely difficult to find.
Gabby didn't wait for a formal mentorship role to start teaching.
"While attending my second year at Thompson Rivers University, I observed classmates struggling in the same ways I once had, and I realized I did not need to wait until I had an apprentice of my own to make a difference."
So she opened the door. Outgoing and approachable, she let her classmates know there was a standing invitation to her library study sessions, and the group grew quickly. She paired students by strength and weakness, so that someone who struggled with math got targeted help while contributing their own command of code interpretation or electrical theory. The result was a supportive, judgment-free environment that lifted the whole group's results.
Her method works because she meets people where they are. To explain dense theory, she reaches for analogies her peers already understand, comparing voltage and reactive power ratios to chemical compounds, or explaining system pressure through hydraulics. And because she's open about her own past struggles, students feel safe admitting what they don't yet know.
"I attribute much of my own success and strong academic results to learning how to explain concepts in multiple ways to accommodate the diverse learning styles of my peers."
It's a philosophy of mutual benefit. Teaching solidifies her own understanding, and in an area like electrical code, where her specialized BC Hydro role gives her little day-to-day residential context, she leans on her study group peers in return. Everyone teaches, everyone learns.
Gabby's immediate goal is to become a highly competent, independent electrician, and she's open to where that leads, whether a foreman role or a trades trainer position within BC Hydro. An upcoming rotation in Lillooet, camp work at a mechanical generating station, is the kind of learning opportunity she actively seeks out. As she puts it, one of the greatest strengths of this trade is that the learning never stops.
That's the spirit the Dakota Prep Fellowship exists to support. The fellowship will back Gabby as she prepares for her third-year SLE and ultimately her Red Seal, and as Dakota Prep's programming grows to connect fellows with industry leaders and new mentorship opportunities, she is exactly the kind of apprentice we want helping to build that community.
"My path into the electrical trade has been shaped by the support of others, and I take pride in being able to offer that same support to my peers."
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