Autumn Gulliams tries her hand at bricklaying during the first Building Futures Career Expo event held Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
Sophia Baugher was one of more than 1,000 students attending the first Building Futures Career Expo event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island. The career expo gave her a chance to try her hand at welding, which she discovered she liked and now is considering as a career. “They have […]
Sophia Baugher was one of more than 1,000 students attending the first Building Futures Career Expo event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island.The career expo gave her a chance to try her hand at welding, which she discovered she liked and now is considering as a career.
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Karl Drapeaux, with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, talks with a student at the expo.
The inaugural Building Futures Career Expo event attracted more than 1,000 students to the event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center, Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
An area student tries welding during the first Building Futures Career Expo event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
An area student cuts a board as more than 1,000 students explore careers in the trades at the first Building Futures Career Expo event Tuesday, Nov. 19. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
The inaugural Building Futures Career Expo event attracted more than 1,000 students to the event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center, Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
A student uses a nail gun at the expo.
Students look over a demo area at the expo.
Autumn Gulliams, right, tries her hand at tile work during the first Building Futures Career Expo event held Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
The inaugural Building Futures Career Expo event attracted more than 1,000 students to the event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center, Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
Students get a ride on lift equipment at the expo.
Students work on a watermain pipe at the expo.
A student on scaffolding gets a lesson on wearing safety gear at the expo.
The inaugural Building Futures Career Expo event attracted more than 1,000 students to the event Tuesday, Nov. 19, at the QCCA Expo Center, Rock Island. CREDIT DAVE THOMPSON
“They have a lot of things set up here. It’s nice. … I might go into welding after this,” said the 12-year-old student from Washington Junior High School in Rock Island.Not far from the welding demo booth, Autumn Gulliams was busy cutting tile and laying bricks at another demonstration booth.“I think it’s all a lot of fun. They have everything here you want to try,” said the 14-year-old girl from Northeast School District in Goose Lake, Iowa. She also is interested in a welding career.The girls were some of the students – representing 39 middle and high schools in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois – to gain hands-on experience in union construction career opportunities at the expo.The Building Futures Career event took place during the 10th annual National Apprenticeship Week (Nov. 17-23), and provided an opportunity for students to learn about jobs and apprenticeships in the building and construction trades.The expo was a joint effort between the Associated Contractors of the Quad Cities (ACQC), the Associated General Contractors of the Quad Cities (AGCQC) and the Quad City Construction Industry Advancement Trust (QCCIAT). Primary sponsors include Estes Construction, General Constructors Inc., Phoenix Corporation of The Quad Cities., Russell Co., and the Tri-City Group.During the expo, students took part in about 40 trade-related activities — including a virtual painting booth and virtual heavy equipment trainers. In the process, they also explored almost any future career the union construction industry has to offer from plumbing, electrical, carpentry, sheet-metal work, masonry, bricklaying, roofing, ironwork and more.Brad Treiber, committee chair of the Building Futures initiative, said the expo was an important step in the ongoing growth of the local construction workforce.“Because these students can be builders of our community in the very near future, it is important that we in the union construction industry help them understand the rewarding careers the trades can provide,” Mr. Treiber said in a news release before the expo. “Through hands-on activities, demonstrations and learning labs, this expo will give young people a chance to see where their talents and passions fit best within the trades. This kind of exposure and these experiences can be helpful tools for attracting future union construction leaders.”During Tuesday’s event, Mr. Treiber called the expo a great chance for students to see that construction jobs are a lot more than manual labor with simple tools.“We hope to light a fire under them. … It’s not all hammers and shovels. There’s a lot of cool technology in this field,” he told the QCBJ.Some of that cool technology was shown in the many hands-on demonstrations provided by the dozens of contractor companies. In addition to welding and tile work, Tuesday’s event featured students – most wearing yellow “Building Futures Career” T-shirts – climbing on scaffolding and wearing safety gear, looking over computer screens for different projects, sawing boards and much more. At the McCarthy Improvement Company booth area, for instance, students got the chance to work on a watermain in an exercise designed to show them how to fix a broken pipe. Jeff Stanley, a superintendent with McCarthy, was one of the people telling the students about careers in the trades. “Our goal is to get these kids interested in the trades. … Everybody these days is interested in getting young people in the trades,” he added.The expo also gave many students the opportunity to learn in the company of successful union contractors and experienced union tradesmen and women who have built careers from the QC region’s extensive menu of earn-as-you-learn trade apprenticeship programs.“This event is a next-level learning event for our students,” Steve Smithers, Special Populations coordinator at the QC Career and Technical Education Consortium located at United Township High School, said in the release. “Exposure to the trades alongside many of the most successful members of the Quad Cities union construction industry is a rare and impactful opportunity.”Among those representing the trade unions was Karl Drapeaux with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150. He was kept busy handing out literature and talking to young students. He was also busy setting many of the students straight on building and trades jobs as he saw that at least some of the youngsters had a negative view on some construction jobs. “It’s not dirty, no-pay jobs. .. I want them to see there's a good career in construction,” Mr. Drapeaux said.However, at least some of the students at the expo didn’t need a pep talk on joining the trades. They liked what they saw and were ready to work.“I might be a welder after this. … There’s a lot of opportunities here,” Autumn Gulliams said.
