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These days, you don’t have to go to college to earn a good paying job.
Students from Baraga and Chassell High Schools toured a Moyle construction site in Calumet to see first hand the work skilled tradesman do in the industry.
Moyle Construction Project Manager Andrew Kemper said, “We just want to give them the opportunity to expose themselves to different trades, show them some different career paths that are out there other than the just your typical four-year college career path that’s been pushed so heavily recently.”
While most people have trouble finding a job, contractors have trouble finding qualified applicants.
Michigan Works! Business Services Coordinator Dale Verran said, “I post a lot of the jobs in the area on the Michigan Talent Connect (http://www.mitalent.org/), and we do see jobs in the carpentry field—roofers and drywallers and electricians—where those jobs will be out there for longer than 30 days, sometimes 90 to 120 days, if we even find a person to fill them.”
The construction site is the future home of the U.P. Health System—Portage Calumet Clinic.
The students are involved in Building Trades classes at their respective schools and the tour gave them a look at how construction is done in the real world.
Baraga High School Senior Joshua Sutherland said, “Yeah, there’s a few cool things around here that I’d like to learn; how to build stuff, see how stuff is built and knowing how my house is going to be built when I’m older and everything.”
And perhaps one day, building them themselves.
