Local professionals teach carpentry, masonry, other trade skills
Roanoke Catholic School junior Thomas Myers admits that until a few weeks ago, he had no idea how to pound a nail into a plank.
But he can now.
A new program at school has also taught him how to measure lumber, make miter cuts and put up a plumb, straight wall.
“It’s not just construction,” he added. “It’s basic employability skills, safety, everyday life, communication skills. When I get into the workforce, I know I’m going to be better prepared for any job I do.”
Myers is one of six students — five of whom are juniors or seniors and one eighth grader — who signed up for the basic carpentry course available through the school’s partnership with the Build Smart Institute (BSI), a Roanoke Valley organization set up to meet the demand for carpenters, plumbers and electricians.
Roanoke Catholic principal Patrick Patterson said this is the first step in the school’s efforts to expand vocational and technical education.
“It’s not just teaching them great skills that will serve them well for the next 20 or 30 or 40 years,” Patterson said, “but to give them the exposure to understand how everything is interconnected, how our faith is interconnected with everything we do, how math is connected to everything we do, and science and languages are connected.”
The class takes place weekday afternoons at the BSI center on Gainsboro Roanoke, a 12,000-square-foot warehouse and office building just a couple of blocks from the school.
“We teach everything from not only handling the tools, but how to read blueprints, how to rig cranes, how to carry materials,” said lead instructor Wesley Cotner. “It’s a very thorough education, not only theory but hands-on.”
Replenishing the workforce
One day a couple of weeks ago, students in hard hats, safety vests and work gloves were learning how to use caulking guns, so they could smooth over the seams in a semester project — a doghouse. Working in groups, the students have built two homes for larger dogs, or a canine family, from the wood floor and walls to the asphalt shingles on the roof.
“At first I didn’t want to go,” said eighth grader Demarcus Brown. “But then I thought that it would be a great opportunity for me and for my career in the future, and I went, and it’s turned out good. It makes me use my brain, but at the same time it’s fun.”
Those opportunities are plentiful and expected to grow. One industry group, the Associated Builders and Contractors, said it expects a shortfall of 650,000 workers in the building trades this year and will need to add 590,000 workers in 2023. It also said the number of construction workers aged 25-54 has fallen about 8% in the past 10 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the average retirement age in this industry is 61, and more than one in five construction workers are 55 or older.
Meeting the need for well-trained workers may end up doing more than boosting the construction business, said Patterson.
“Wouldn’t it be great if 3 or 4 or 5 years from now I could demonstrate to parents and the community’s supporters and leaders that Roanoke Catholic put 12 or 15 young men or women into the world of work?” he said. “They’re going to stay in Roanoke, they’re going to have families, they’re going to raise their kids, they’re going to go to Roanoke Catholic School, they’re going to stay active in our parishes, and they’re not going to leave because there were not any opportunities for careers.”
Foundation for the future
The Build Smart Institute started two years ago, founded by Gary Feazell, owner of F&S Building Innovations, a Roanoke construction company. He came up with the start-up funding, with the idea that tuition and donations will make it self-sustaining.
“Our goal was to put construction professionals in front of these trainees,” said BSI President Alicia Smith, “who are in the lab actually building, laying out and framing walls, running plumbing pipe, running electrical wire, to truly demonstrate the hands-on aspect from people who have actually done it and are doing it.”
They work not only with high school students, but those already in the building industry who want to improve their skills.
The curriculum is based on one suggested by the National Center for Construction Education.
“We have people constantly out talking to other companies, other subcontractors, schools, home school organizations, colleges, community colleges,” said Smith. “We are very nimble and can tailor the curriculum to just about anything someone tells us they need.
Like other BSI students, those in the Roanoke Catholic group have also earned their “OSHA 10” cards, a safety certification class required of all construction workers by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. And, as much as they may not like it, these students work hard at math.
“We have found a large majority of our trainees have trouble reading rulers and doing fractions,” said Cotner.
The Roanoke Catholic students attend BSI for free through a partial tuition credit the school offered and federal workforce training grants that the city public school system helped to arrange. These courses also qualify for college dual enrollment credit.
“We expect that the numbers will double every year for probably the next couple of years,” Patterson said. “And our hope is that we not only get young men to be interested in this program, but also to have some young women explore this programming.”
As the students continued caulking, Wesley tossed in a pop quiz.
“How many different kinds of saws have we used?” he asked.
Myers was ready.
“Miter saw, compound miter saw, table saw, circular saw, jigsaw, handsaw,” said Myers who, along with his classmates, will be working on advanced carpentry next semester.
Once the doghouses are painted and finished, BSI plans to auction them to raise money for its scholarship fund so it can convince more students like Brown to consider carpentry.
“It’s just fun to build and put stuff together,” he said. “I never thought I would do that, but it’s been growing on me. Ever since I’ve been going to Build Smart, I’ve wanted to be a carpenter.”