Just inside the main gate of the Iowa State Fairgrounds, major construction is underway. Bulldozers, excavators and graders manned by skilled operators are reshaping the property in time for the next fair in August.
It’s the kind of work that requires plenty of brains and brawn, and elsewhere on the grounds, both inside and outside of the Varied Industries Building, hundreds of DMPS students were part of a major event on Wednesday aimed at stepping up the supply of employees trained to do it.
Build Your Future is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to “be the catalyst for recruiting the next generation of craft professionals.” BYF organized the “Build My Future” career fair that was expected to draw 3,000 students from across Iowa, more than 400 of them from the host district that helped coordinate the expo in partnership with a consortium of local employers and labor unions.
The Skilled Trades Academy at Central Campus, aka “Iowa’s Premier Regional Academy for Advanced Career Training,” has grown from an enrollment of 250 to 420 this year, on its way to filling a program capacity of 610, according to Central Campus Director Tascha Brown.
The skilled trades program is made possible through support from the school district as well as outside partners in various fields tied to the building and construction industry. The program also catches some national attention. Earlier this week the former U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development, and current presidential candidate, Julian Castro stopped by to talk with teachers and students, and tour Central Campus.
“We’ve got kids here today from all five comprehensive district high schools and Scavo,” Brown said. “Plus, our skilled trades programming attracts students from 40 other surrounding school districts.”
That’s a good trend, but the skilled trades are facing an ominous one. A majority of current craft professionals are expected to retire within the next decade, so the race is on to train their replacements. Automation may be on the rise in the manufacturing sector, but that is not the case when it comes to the brute but precise force of heavy equipment operation or the artistry of a veteran bricklayer.
When the DMPS contingent arrived via a fleet of school buses, they were herded indoors to grab t-shirts and sit through a safety training session. Then it was off for a wide assortment of hands-on free samples in welding, masonry, pole-climbing, heavy equipment operation, you name it.
Students who were willing tried their hands at crane operation and scurrying up utility poles with lineman boots and safety belts. One display featured a variation of tee-ball where the object was delicately scooping up a softball with a backhoe bucket, which is kind of like watching an elephant try to clip its nails when novices are at the controls.
The district’s fairgrounds field trip was like a working vacation for students; a day away from the classroom routine, but a job hunt, essentially. It looked and felt like a resounding success, as long as the predicted thunderstorm held off. Only one thing was missing, in Brown’s eyes, and she made a note to rectify it.
“Next time we do this, we (the Skilled Trades Academy) are going to set up a booth of our own,” she said. Other districts have some of the opportunities Central Campus offers, but no place else has them all. “Iowa’s Premier Regional Academy for Advanced Career Training,” is a one-stop shop, for students AND their future employers.
To learn more about how DMPS is helping alleviate local shortages in the skilled trades, and how you can help too, visit the Skilled Trades Alliance web page.
