Boot camp gives students chance to explore construction trades
Jun. 22—Students across the region are getting the chance to explore construction trades at Mankato West High School during the two-week long South Central Construction Trades Boot Camp.
The South Central WorkForce Council, which organizes the camp in partnership with different trade, education and career entities, offers students opportunities to try out interactive projects with electricians, cement masons and more. The students are also getting the chance to learn about union apprenticeship training opportunities and take tours of different training centers.
On Tuesday, the students taking part in the program worked with bricklayers.
The opportunity to explore different careers is what drew students like 11th grader Carter Gieseke, 12th grader Jade Correll and 12th grader Vaila Boyd to the camp.
Correll said she decided to sign up for the boot camp to see what she was interested in.
"I decided to come here because it's a great opportunity to spread my wings and decide on what career I want to do. I was interested in kind of construction and just to see how everything is, what I like and what I don't like," she said.
Boyd added that she's always been interested in blue-collar jobs but didn't know what she wanted to go into.
"I thought this would be a great opportunity to see a lot more and try to expose myself to knowing what's out there," she said.
Gieseke said the camp will give them an edge in the job market in the future.
"That will give us a big advantage when we're finally old enough to actually start working for these major companies and businesses," he said.
David Malone, Greater Minnesota Coordinator for Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, said the boot camp helps get local students interested in and exposed to different trade careers.
"When we're done here, they will have been exposed to eight or 10 unions," he said. "What we're trying to do is expose them to something they maybe haven't experienced before and give them an option as far as a career."
Malone said the recruitment is especially important as current workers in the field retire.
"We're looking at a huge deficit (of workers). I don't know where we're at in this area, but if you look at the trades overall, we did a mentorship class with the apprentices in Minnesota and North Dakota, and one of the statistics that came out with that is we're going to be about 15 percent short on workers at best just in the next few years with people that are retiring. There's a lot of people my age that are going to be done."
Mankato West tech ed teacher Caleb Watson said the camp gets kids out of the classroom and gives them a chance to apply what they've learned.
"The big push behind this camp is just giving kids career exploration," he said.
The camp wraps up on Friday with a graduation ceremony.
