NNS Employee Named Outstanding Apprentice 2012

Newport News Shipbuilding employee Greg Hoefflin has been named an Outstanding Apprentice for 2012 by the Virginia Apprenticeship Council.

Hoefflin, a 2012 graduate of The Apprentice School at NNS, is the ninth Apprentice School graduate to receive the honor since it was first awarded in 1998.

The Virginia Apprenticeship Council, in association with the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry, sponsors the annual awards program to honor outstanding apprentices who represent the best of what apprenticeship has to offer. Apprentices are nominated by their sponsoring organizations. They are judged on craftsmanship, accuracy, cooperation, leadership and decision-making, among other considerations.

Greg Hoefflin started at NNS in 2005 as a sheet metal mechanic and took night school courses to prepare himself for acceptance into The Apprentice School. He has played an integral role in several special projects to support shipboard production. Earlier this year, Hoefflin was chosen to be part of the initial mechanical test group for the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), which is scheduled for a refueling complex overhaul beginning next year at NNS. The test group typically comprises senior test engineers and technicians.

Hoefflin earned an associate's degree in engineering from Tidewater Community College and is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.