Monday, March 11, 2019
Story by Dorothy Bliskey, and photography by Travis Pohl, E&M Photography, for InSpire Magazine
When two strong leaders in the construction industry put their heads together on an idea, the chances of a positive result are usually excellent. That was the case when Bob Roehrig, Vice President of Sales for County Materials Corporation, met with Pat Smith of C.D. Smith Construction, a Fond du Lac business that builds commercial and industrial facilities in Wisconsin and nationwide.
Their idea was to get other construction businesses together to form a hands-on construction training center at Fond du Lac High School – one that would draw boys as well as girls into the industry’s trades. After all, the shortage of workers in construction was growing. At about that same time, high school officials were trying to figure out how to improve their Career Construction Academy, a program that had been in place since 2005 but was floundering.
Smith and Roehrig, both Fond du Lac natives, spearheaded a local program – the ACE (Architecture, Construction, Engineering) Academy for students at Fond du Lac High School. Together they met with the school administrator, school board, technical education instructor, and 40 other area construction businesses they convinced to get involved. As a group, they took ACE Academy from an idea to a reality.
The upgraded version of the program includes a brand new 5,700-square-foot addition built onto the school for hands-on activities in the construction trades.
Emily Howe, and Madison Kirsch.
“It’s quite a contrast from what we had in the previous program, where hands-on projects were performed in a 300-square-foot space within the classroom/shop,” said Vern Widmer, Tech Education and ACE Academy Instructor. “What we have now is more like the size of a gymnasium with various mock-ups that simulate different construction tasks. Students are able to actually do wiring in one mock-up area of the building, plumbing work in another, and build a house structure in another. They are doing the kind of work they’d actually be doing at a job site.”
Their teacher isn’t the only one teaching them either. Representatives from various businesses involved in ACE are invited as “guest teachers” in the new hands-on classroom. They arrive to teach their particular trade — whether it’s electrical work, masonry, plumbing, roofing, or home building. They oversee students actually doing the work in the mock-up area. They may also initiate a field trip for students, be a guest speaker, or offer job shadowing and internship opportunities.
According to Widmer, ACE Academy credits will, in time, transfer to technical schools as dual credit. “We’re working on that with Moraine Park Technical College.”
“The new ACE Academy ultimately gives students the tools they need to enter the industry,” said Dr. James Sebert, administrator of the Fond du Lac School District. “There is an incredible need to get kids interested in these types of positions due to the shortage of workers.”
To learn more about the school-business partnership, and what students have to say about the program, go to the full InSpire Magazine article.