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Building trades camp teaches teens skills

Andie Balenger | Daily Press Students put their newly acquired electrical skills to the test at the UPCC Building Trades Summer Camp, a six-week, paid internship program for local students. After a brief demonstration by a professional electrician, students will use trial-and-error when attempting to effectively wire a light switch. When a student runs into an issue, an instructor will assist them until they discover where a misstep was made.

GLADSTONE — The U.P. Construction Council (UPCC) launched their first ever Building Trades Summer Camp for high school students in the Delta/Schoolcraft area on July 11. This six-week, paid internship program gives students, ages 14 through 17, an opportunity to gain hands-on experience in all lines of trades work. With two weeks of training down, the students have already learned the fundamentals of carpentry, plumbing, and pipefitting.

“We want the students to understand that there is actually a career opportunity after high school that they do not have to go into debt in order to achieve,” Mike Smith, executive director of the UPCC, said. “They can earn and learn right out of high school.”

The UPCC, founded in 1984, is a non-profit labor management group that works with signatory contractors in the building trades to create programs, like the Building Trades Summer Camp, that ensure all members of the industry are cohesively working together. This year’s summer camp is being held at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 7 (IUPAT DC 7) Training Center, located at 707 Clark Dr. in Gladstone.

“[The UPCC] makes sure that we are all going in the same direction with a strategy to implement a safe working environment for the building trades,” Smith said.

The Building Trades Summer Camp is currently training 26 students, all of whom had to undergo a rigorous application process to be accepted into the program. Every student who applied had to go through resume writing and interviewing skills workshops, both of which were provided by Michigan Works. Once these workshops were completed, all applicants were interviewed and the students who excelled were hired.

“Michigan Works takes an interest in skills trade because a four year degree isn’t for everyone,” Megan Boddy, talent services manager at Michigan Works, said. “The trades provide an opportunity for students to earn while they learn, get a paycheck while they are going to school, and have hands-on instruction.”

Once hired, the students participated in a financial literacy workshop, which was provided by Peninsula Federal Credit Union. In addition to walking the students through the banking process, the credit union helped students open new bank accounts if needed before their paychecks were set to be directly deposited to their banking institution of choice. Additionally, the students had to pass a safety workshop with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration before stepping onto the construction site.

“We hope to connect with these students all the way through their high school careers,” Smith said. “We want to build that relationship, build that foundation, so that when they leave high school we can get them directly into one of our apprenticeship programs.”

In just six-weeks, the students have been tasked with completing a mock-up for the IUPAT DC 7, who are soon to expand their apprenticeship program into the Training Center. The new mock-up structure will replace an older version, which has been used to practice hanging wall coverings, finishing drywall, and painting. In their first two weeks of training, the students have been assisted by professional carpenters, plumbers, pipe-fitters, and electricians to help develop the mock-up.

So far, the students have constructed the walls and roof of the structure, along with installing plumbing fixtures for a washer, dryer, and bathroom.

“I am quite impressed. We thought this was a pretty large go project, all of this framing in just four days with 14 to 17 year olds, and they did a great job,” Smith said. “The students really got after it, were focused, and just did a super job.”

Jack Taylor, an eighth grade student at Gladstone Middle School, is one of the youngest students participating in the camp. Having always been interested in the trades, Taylor has most enjoyed learning the ins-and-outs of pipefitting.

“My uncle does it and I think it is just fun being able to weld,” Taylor said. “You don’t really get opportunities to do that unless you have an actual welding job.”

Grady Smith, a junior at Rapid River High School, has been enjoying his time at the Building Trades Summer Camp as well. While the students are currently learning how to wire lights and switches, the carpentry sector of the trades has been his favorite type of work so far.

“This is a good experience and it will help me see if this is something I want to do in the future,” Grady said.

Students work four hour shifts throughout the week, each being paid $12 an hour plus an additional $200 bonus upon completion of the camp. While the Building Trades Summer Camp is set to be an annual event, its location will rotate to different U.P. locations every year. Because applicants were required to be within a 45 minute driving radius of the work site, this rotation will provide an opportunity for other students to take advantage of the program in the future.

“For the seniors or juniors in high school who will be graduating soon, this will just give them a taste of what each of the different trades do,” Ryan Stern of the Michigan Building Trades said. “Just a little taste so they get interested, to plant a little seed in their head for what is available to them.”

The UPCC Building Trades Summer Camp will conclude on August 18, with a graduation ceremony scheduled for the students that same day. At the end of the camp, students will be able to take home all of the personal protection equipment and hand tools that they were issued at the beginning of camp. The cost of all of this equipment, which was covered by program sponsors, reaches approximately $4,000.

“When the students started, we had to teach them which end of the hammer to hold onto. There were some that I didn’t know if they had ever used a hammer before,” Stern said. “They have come a long way already in just the second week. They get here early and they have their tool pouches on, ready to go before it is time to work.”

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