The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008
The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008
The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008
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Soldotna High School seniors Darren McGrady, Jackson<br />
Kahn and Billy Duncan built this storage unit for the<br />
school’s soccer fields. <strong>The</strong> welding department worked on<br />
the locking system.<br />
“I think the sky’s the limit with this<br />
construction academy concept,” Hammer<br />
said. He and other local homebuilders<br />
are teaching the introductory<br />
carpentry class to adults.<br />
Parents, high school counselors,<br />
contractors, voc-ed instructors and experienced<br />
journeymen have all stepped<br />
up to assure that the next generation of<br />
construction workers is trained according<br />
to best practices in the industry.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Kenai Peninsula Construction<br />
Academy’s after-school program was<br />
conducted at Nikiski High<br />
School, KCHS Workforce Development,<br />
Soldotna High<br />
School, Homer High School,<br />
Ninilchik School and Susan B.<br />
English in Seldovia. Carpentry,<br />
plumbing, residential wiring,<br />
framing and welding were<br />
studied in two, four-week<br />
sessions at each location. A<br />
total of 56 students participated<br />
peninsula-wide, receiving<br />
completion certificates on<br />
May 12. <strong>The</strong> Kenai Peninsula<br />
Borough School District encompasses<br />
more than 25,000<br />
square miles, so there were<br />
many distance-related challenges<br />
in delivering construction<br />
training to all areas. Many students<br />
from the Russian villages (Voznesenka<br />
and Nikolaevsk) traveled to Homer or<br />
Ninilchik for training, a round trip of<br />
more than 50 miles.<br />
Throughout the Kenai Peninsula<br />
there is tremendous interest in the upcoming<br />
fall sessions.<br />
Barb Roper is the project coordinator for<br />
the After School Construction Academy.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Fairbanks<br />
Northstar Borough<br />
School District, Youth<br />
Construction Academy<br />
Program graduated 23 students<br />
May 5. Students from Ben Eielson,<br />
Hutchison, Lathrop, North Pole and<br />
West Valley enrolled and completed<br />
the NCCER CORE Curriculum – Introductory<br />
Craft Skills during the second<br />
semester of <strong>2008</strong>. All of the students<br />
completing this program followed<br />
NCCER Standards and fulfilled the required<br />
number of instructional hours<br />
to qualify for the NCCER Certificate<br />
for the CORE Curriculum in Basic<br />
Carpentry and Construction.<br />
<strong>The</strong>se very motivated students attended<br />
the evening NCCER CORE<br />
Class in addition to maintaining a<br />
full-time course load as 11th- or 12thgrade<br />
students.<br />
<strong>The</strong> construction program has<br />
established a solid partnership with<br />
<strong>Alaska</strong> Works Partnership, AGC of<br />
<strong>Alaska</strong>, <strong>Alaska</strong> State Home Builders<br />
Association, <strong>Alaska</strong> Department<br />
of Labor and the UAF Cold Climate<br />
Housing Research Center based in<br />
Fairbanks. <strong>The</strong> Fairbanks school dis-<br />
BY GARY MUNYON