Students gain valuable real-world experience

The recent spell of dry weather provided the perfect opportunity for Career and Technical Education students to gain some valuable real-world experience. Armed with everything from jackhammers to wheelbarrows, a group from the Copper Country Intermediate School District was tasked with breaking up the deteriorating sidewalk in front of their building and laying a new pedestrian walkway.

The job was done in partnership with the City of Hancock. Manager Mary Babcock says she hopes to work with the CTE staff and students on future projects. Construction Technology instructor Mike Randall says the experience was a great one. “This is a real-world project which there is no way to replicate using a jackhammer and laying concrete for a sidewalk in the classroom.”

The full release is below.

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The sidewalk in front of the Copper Country ISD Career & Technical Education (CTE) Career Tech Center in East Hancock had fallen into disrepair over the years and was due for a makeover. This created an opportunity for the CTE Construction Technology students to gain some firsthand experience breaking up concrete and laying a new sidewalk. Mary Babcock, Hancock City Manager said, “The sidewalk in front of the CTE building had deteriorated over many years and was in desperate need of replacement. The sidewalk improvement helps the community by creating a safe pedestrian friendly walking area.”

To start the project, the CCISD reached out to the City of Hancock to come up with a plan to fix the sidewalk while getting the student experience replacing a sidewalk. The City would provide the material with some equipment and labor to move the large sidewalk chunks broke up by the students, the rest was handled by the CTE students and instructors. Babcock said, “We were happy to work with the teachers and students. We are grateful for this partnership and appreciate the quality work completed by the students.” Mike Randell, CTE Construction Technology instructor said, “This was a great experience for the students. This is a real-world project which there is no way to replicate using a jackhammer and laying concrete for a sidewalk in the classroom.”

All CTE programs offer students real-world, hands-on experiences to prepare for whatever path their life journey takes them. The collaboration between the City of Hancock and CTE is a great example of that. Randell said, “This is a win-win for everyone as the students get the experience of laying a sidewalk and the city of Hancock upgrades their walk way by the Career Tech Center.” How many opportunities do people get in their lifetime to grab a jackhammer and destroy some concrete? These students now have that experience and will be better for it no matter if they go into Construction as a career or use the skill to fix their personal property in the future. Randell continued, “students getting this type of experience is going to help them lower the fear factor of taking on personal or work projects in the future while now having the resume builder to get a job in construction if they choose.”

Mary Babcock added, “Hopefully this type of collaboration will continue in the future to benefit both the students and the City.”

If you would like to learn more about the Copper Country ISD Career and Technical Education Construction Technology or any other program, call 906 482 4250 or visit the Copper Country ISD website at www.copperisd.org/career-technical-education.