CPS Students Introduced to Carpentry at the Obama Presidential Center
When carpenters need picnic benches, they don’t buy them, they build them. So, when the huddle tent on the Obama Presidential Center site where Lakeside Alliance crew members eat lunch and take breaks needed furniture, Scott Atchison, senior project superintendent (Turner Construction), remembered how he got started in construction.
“All I needed was an opportunity when I was coming out of high school,” he recalled. “I’ve made a good living in construction and I want to see more young people consider entering the industry. To do that, I think we go to the students, and reaching them through the schools is the perfect route.”
One day in May, that need for benches was transformed into an opportunity to introduce the trades to 28 students from ACE Amandla Charter School (ACE) and Simeon Career Academy. Bringing high school students onto a construction site required special care and an extra layer of safety precaution. But together, Lakeside Alliance’s diversity and inclusion group and field teams — along with Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council, the We Can Build It workforce initiative, and the OPC’s main supplier, White Cap — pulled it off to provide a valuable teaching moment and hands-on carpentry experience.
“I told the team, I want to have 25 big personalities, our best carpenters, and we received so much interest,” Atchison said when discussing the thought that went into planning the event.
Each journeymen carpenter from Lakeside partners Powers & Sons, Turner and Ujaama Construction in attendance was paired with two students and taught them how to measure and calculate dimensions. The instructors did the cutting with the saw.
“Our instructor was pretty funny,” said Kam Garrett, a 10th grader at ACE. “The Obama project was definitely not what I expected, but overall, I think it exceeded our expectations. And I surprised myself with all the measurements and things that I thought I couldn’t do, but I ended up doing. So, it was pretty informative.”
NBC 5 Chicago even came out and filmed the event. “The Lakeside Alliance team was so excited,” Atchison said. “This event made our month. To do this on a job site is very rare. Usually, you do not have a facility like this, or a room like we have here. So, this project provides pretty unique opportunities. This is what it means to work in this industry.”
By the end of the day, that message had resonated with the students.
“I think that the trades are great for anybody looking for their purpose,” Garrett said. “It’s high paying but that’s not the only reason you should go. It’s pretty fun to go into and it’s interesting if you like using your hands a lot. So, I would definitely recommend going into the trades.”
“For people who don’t think college is a great option for them, the trades is a second option you can try,” said Joshua Gardner, an 11th grader at ACE.
Atchison said the best advice he could give a student who, like his youngest son, wasn’t interested in college, is “don’t limit your options.”
“When an opportunity is in front of you, make the most of it, and be the best you can be. That’s really it, and that’s exactly what the students here today are doing.”