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GHCCD |
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The Construction Workforce Coalition, a Marek Family of Companies supported organization, hit a home run by recently spearheading the Greater Houston Construction Career Days held October 31 through November 2 at the Humble Civic Center Arena.
During those three days more than 5000 high school juniors and seniors plus some 300 teachers and other school officials witnessed and participated in the largest-ever gathering of Houston's construction industry.
Among those in attendance was Humble school district's Director of Career and Technology Education, Becky Clemmons. "You could just see the excitement in the students as they worked the hands-on events. Students and teachers were very impressed that this industry took the time to share their careers and information about employment opportunities. We need more meaningful events like this for all of our students." |
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Showcasing Houston's highway construction sector was an outdoor area with over 25 pieces of heavy equipment on hand for students to climb aboard and operate. With an experienced operator close at hand, the students were able to dig holes, backfill, grade, drive, swing and articulate various equipment used in the construction of highways and bridges. |
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A second area at the event featured exhibitors from universities, community colleges, trade and technical schools, manufacturer training programs, apprentice and construction association training programs, all designed to show students how to plug educational opportunities into a career in the construction industry.
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For a close-up, hands-on look at the building trades, a third section allowed students to take part in more than a dozen different activities including finishing concrete, bricklaying, tile setting, pipefitting, plumbing, electrical, engineering and site layout, CAD/model making, nail driving, structural steel assembly, drywall hanging, finishing and acoustical ceiling installation |
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In addition, computerized simulators allowed students to try their hand at welding and driving 18-wheeler tractor-trailers. |
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"We really wanted the kids to get a hands-on exposure to our industry," claims Larry Williams who serves as Board President of the CWC. "We spend a great deal of time in the schools speaking to students about our industry, but we wanted to go a step further to really be able to reach the level of awareness needed to spark their interest. We wanted the schools to bring the students to us in a setting where they could actually perform construction activities."
For three days, the students did just that -- coming from 22 different school districts as far away as Galveston, Brenham and even Laredo. Day one saw 1680 students pass through the gates, followed by 1650 on Day two and 1800 on day three.
"It was chore dealing with these kinds of numbers, but we had tremendous industry support. We easily had over 300 industry volunteers performing dozens of functions each day including riding the buses that brought these students to set-up, monitoring, and manning equipment, exhibit booths and conducting hands-on, demonstrations, and competition activities. It really was a team effort."
A team effort meant that the event crossed traditional industry boundaries. In addition to CWC spearheading the event, co-sponsors included the Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation who provided funding for the event, Texas Department of Transportation who supplied in excess of 100 volunteers each day, the Associated General Contractors of Texas – Highway, Heavy Utilities and Industrial Branch, Taking Education to Work and the Humble Independent School District.
Director of Career and Technology Education for Klein school district, Janelle Watson, proclaimed "the Construction Career Fair did an excellent job of presenting information to the students about careers in the construction industry. The hands-on approach was fantastic."
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One of Watson's welding teachers, John Husfield, summed it up his way. "This event was a tremendous opportunity for my students to explore career opportunities in construction. They walked away feeling that they were needed and that the construction industry really wanted them." |
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