Brecksville firm hires six Alliance High students to construct district athletic fields

Benjamin Duer, The Repository
·3 min read
Aiden Yacklin, a senior at Alliance High School, helps stretch out cloth for SCG Fields, which is renovating the Aviators' baseball and softball fields. SCG Fields hired six students in the school's construction trades program as paid part-time interns.
Aiden Yacklin, a senior at Alliance High School, helps stretch out cloth for SCG Fields, which is renovating the Aviators' baseball and softball fields. SCG Fields hired six students in the school's construction trades program as paid part-time interns.

ALLIANCE − It was cold and windy on the baseball field.

A small crew was laying fabric on a frozen dirt surface behind Alliance High School. They were getting it ready for a blanket of gravel.

SCG Fields LLC, a Brecksville company that specializes in athletic fields, is remodeling the Aviators' high school baseball and softball fields. The firm also will later build a football field and track at Alliance Middle School.

SCG Fields employee William Howell teaches Alliance High senior Tyion Miles how to properly install cloth on a dirt surface before putting gravel on it at the school's baseball field.
SCG Fields employee William Howell teaches Alliance High senior Tyion Miles how to properly install cloth on a dirt surface before putting gravel on it at the school's baseball field.

But they weren't the only ones getting dirty. On the first day of winter break, three high school seniors joined the SCG Fields crew with the construction work. Tyion Miles, Ke'sean Kilgore and Aiden Yacklin were getting real-world experience, as part-time paid interns.

"I like it," said Miles, 18. "I like getting dirty. I like being active."

SCG Fields recently hired Miles, Kilgore and Yacklin along with three other seniors who are involved in the high school's construction trades program − James Metzger, Alex Hinojosa and Tra'Sean Williams − to help with the ballfield projects. The six students will work part-time, mostly from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. three days a week and earn between $15 and $18 an hour.

"I like it," Miles, 18, said. "I like getting dirty. I like being active."

Hinojosa, 17, likes how they work as a group.

"I like the hard labor, but I'm a little sore," he said. "But it's fun."

A crew member for SCG Fields LLC spreads gravel over cloth at the Alliance High School ball fields. SCG, a Brecksville company that builds athletic fields across the United States, won the bid in September to renovate the softball and baseball fields at Alliance High School and build a track and football field at Alliance Middle School.
A crew member for SCG Fields LLC spreads gravel over cloth at the Alliance High School ball fields. SCG, a Brecksville company that builds athletic fields across the United States, won the bid in September to renovate the softball and baseball fields at Alliance High School and build a track and football field at Alliance Middle School.

How the SCG Fields internship started

SCG Fields project manager Nick Pappas said the firm approached the Alliance City School District with the idea after they had success with it at Akron's Buchtel High School.

"We recognize there are different types of learners," said Pappas, a former teacher. "We think it is beneficial to provide students an opportunity to learn in a nontraditional setting and get them as much exposure to the construction industry as we can."

Nine students applied for the internship; six were chosen. All the student interns will have the opportunity to be hired full-time by SCG Fields after graduation.

"It is a unique opportunity that is not available to many students," Pappas said.

SCG Fields, which builds athletic fields, hired six Alliance High School seniors in the school's construction trades program to work for the company part-time and get hands-on experience. Pictured here, from left, are seniors Tyion Miles, Aiden Yacklin and Ke'sean Kilgore who are helping put cloth over a dirt surface on a baseball field.
SCG Fields, which builds athletic fields, hired six Alliance High School seniors in the school's construction trades program to work for the company part-time and get hands-on experience. Pictured here, from left, are seniors Tyion Miles, Aiden Yacklin and Ke'sean Kilgore who are helping put cloth over a dirt surface on a baseball field.

Beth Starrett, the district's director of career programs, said the district, SCG Fields, the students and their parents entered into a work-based agreement before starting the program.

Stacey Rinehart, work-based learning coordinator, said district officials also gave the company learning objectives for the students.

"We will give them evaluations quarterly to make sure the students are learning," she said.

Construction trades teacher Thomas Barnes also receives feedback from site manager Damon Ervie regarding the students' performance.

Barnes said it is a good opportunity for the students and, "SCG Fields takes care of their employees well."

For example, Miles runs track, and SCG has pledged to work around his athletic schedule. Hinojosa wants to travel after graduation and he was told the company will allow him to do it and still keep his paid internship.

"They made it clear they really want us to be happy with them and happy with our lives," Hinojosa said.

From left: Ke'sean Kilgore, Aiden Yacklin, James Metzger, Tyion Miles, Alex Hinojosa, Tra'Sean Williams, all seniors at Alliance High School. The six students were recently hired as part-time paid interns for SCG Fields LLC, a firm remodeling several athletic fields in the school district.
From left: Ke'sean Kilgore, Aiden Yacklin, James Metzger, Tyion Miles, Alex Hinojosa, Tra'Sean Williams, all seniors at Alliance High School. The six students were recently hired as part-time paid interns for SCG Fields LLC, a firm remodeling several athletic fields in the school district.

Why the Alliance students applied

The students went into Alliance's construction trades program for different reasons but all of them see a potential future in it.

Miles, who plays football, said he needed a "backup plan," and the construction industry drew his attention. He wants to be either a carpenter or a laborer.

"I like the experience, being around the work environment and being around the tools," Miles said. "If they say, 'go get this,' I'm learning what tool it is because they use the name."

Hinojosa said he took construction trades because of a friend and because he used to work on houses.

"Yesterday, we were pulling tarp down, nailing it down and putting these little drains out and everyone else is bulldozing stones over it. That was kind of unique," he said.

Pappas said the internship will continue from the baseball and softball fields to the middle school football field projects, and it will last into the summer months. The firm hopes to do this program with other districts, when possible.

Reach Benjamin Duer at 330-580-8567 or ben.duer@cantonrep.com.

Follow on Twitter @bduerREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: SCG Fields hired six Alliance High seniors as part-time paid interns