Chip and Steve Present to Eager Students
By Bill Hohlfeld
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
The library at Ozone Park’s High School for Construction Trades, Engineering & Architecture held more than books last Wednesday. In addition to its amply stocked shelves, it provided demonstration space for participants in its Annual Career Day. Local 46, always willing to help make a difference in the community, joined with the New York City District Council of Carpenters, Local 78 Laborers, Pratt Institute, New York City Technical College and Construction Skills 2000, to explain to the graduating classes of 2010 and 2011 what a career in the construction industry is all about. For these young men and women, the option is an attractive one, or they would not have worked as hard as they have to gain entry to this state-of the-art, specialty school.
Neatly dressed in their school uniforms, (complete with a student designed school insignia) groups of youngsters nearing graduation filed by the various displays under the watchful eyes of Ms. Jeannine Manning of the Guidance Department. They listened intently to in-depth explanations of how Building Trades Apprentice Progams are structured, what the course of study would be like and, of course, what a typical day’s work is like. At the Local 46 exhibit, they got an overview of the various tasks required of a Lather, whether the project was a straightforward suspended ceiling, ornate metal lath project, conventional reinforced high rise, or post-tensioned structure.
After paying close attention, the students were not shy about asking questions which were both intelligent and articulate. The queries ranged from “ Is it very dangerous?” and “Are there many women?” to “ How is the Pay?” and a particularly mature question for a seventeen year old, “ Do you have medical benefits?” At the end of the Q&A sessions, most of the kids took the time to offer their thanks, some of them taking an extra moment to extend their hands and offer firm grips.
Also taking the time to offer his thanks was one of the faculty, Construction Trades Teacher, Stephen Flynn. A former Local #3 electrician himself, Stephen knows the inherent value of Union Building Trades Apprentice Training, and tries to make a point of telling his students about it whenever he can.
So, while today might not be the day to be rounding up new recruits, we all know the cyclical nature of the construction industry, and how quickly the landscape can change. When it does, its good to know that the NYC Department of Education has established a school where students interested in the Construction Trades are are well educated, well mannered and well dressed.
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