Page 11 - SKILLS - 2023

700 Hudson Valley Students Learn About Trade Skills, Careers at Annual Construction Career Day
High school students from across the Hudson Valley meet with trade industry experts every spring to participate in skills-building activities and learn about careers in the trades at the annual Hudson Valley Construction Career Day, which was held in late March.
Some 700 students filled the Rockland Community College Fieldhouse in Suffern, NY to explore diverse careers in the construction and building trades, and learn about the financial and educational advantages of apprenticeship training.
Union and private-sector companies engaged students with hands-on demonstrations of a dozen trade activities, including excavating, masonry, welding, carpentry, and soldering, with the goal to reinvigorate the industry’s labor force with young talent. These may be entry-level jobs, but they pay a living wage that only goes up with the more skills they acquire.
This year’s event was the 23rd annual expo to support tomorrow’s workforce through the sponsorship support of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc. (CIC), and the Building Contractors Association of Westchester & The Mid-Hudson Valley, Inc. (BCA). Attendance profiles over the years have peaked at 65% minority, and females represented nearly a quarter of the participants (23%).
This year’s Construction Career Day showcased 18 Union Locals and six exhibitors supporting the expo. In addition to the hundreds of students attending from 21 regional high schools, some 62 chaperones participated to help manage the event.
“The demand for skilled labor is increasing, and we’re seeing infrastructure investments at the state and federal levels, so there is clearly a need for these critical skills,” said Matthew Pepe, executive director of the BCA. “Apprenticeships offer young people the opportunity
to learn and earn as they prepare for good-paying jobs right in their communities. We’re proud to be a part of this important effort to enhance our workforce, invest in our communities, and strengthen our overall economy.”
Registered apprenticeship programs in the building and construction trades provide participants with a high-quality and nationally recognized credential that certifies occupational proficiency in the construction industry. Programs follow a “learn-while-you-earn” model, as participants earn wages that are graduated upward as the apprentice accumulates greater skills and experience on the job.
‘Blue Collar to New Collar’
Mary Jane Bertram, Hudson Valley regional director for the Albany, NY-based Workforce Development Institute, talked about the importance of investing in technical training and new technology skills and going from “blue collar to new collar.”
“Providing our youth with a variety of options to good- paying, family-sustaining wages is an important mission and one that we are happy to assist with,” Bertram said.
“These careers are locally based and they provide a way for people to raise a family, buy a house, and retire with financial security. It’s a beautiful thing to have those benefits that continue for a lifetime.”
A number of local, state, and federal representatives attended the event and talked about the importance of the trades as a career option for students who aren’t necessarily college-bound.
“This is about the American Dream. I cannot believe
the amount of people who are here today, trying to be a part of that,” said Rockland County Executive Ed Day. “I’ve been coming here for 18 years, first as a Rockland County Legislator and now as the County Executive. What I feel most satisfied about, going back all those years, is that
I know a number of these young people who now have good-paying jobs, are raising families, and have their own homes. This is a path to move forward and have a good life.”
Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne said, “There are so many different opportunities for our young people to pursue in New York, in Putnam County and the Hudson Valley. And those opportunities aren’t just out of higher education schools, but through apprenticeship programs and through our friends in the labor community. You have an opportunity to not only learn from groups like this, but to work with them and stay in New York, stay in the Hudson Valley.”
There are a growing number of young people who are ditching the ideal of earning a college degree, noted Cathy Balestrieri, director of career and technical education at Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES (PNW Boces) in Yorktown Heights, NY. Plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, and other jobs are waiting for young people who want to go to work. “I think there has been a real shift away from the message of ‘college college,’” she said, referring
to the traditional mantra heard from high school guidance counselors. “We have all these openings with incredible opportunities for a lifelong career.”
She reported that this year, attendance at PNW BOCES hit an all-time high in its 50-year history — with the largest enrollment jump to some 1,500 juniors and seniors learning a trade.
“Hundreds more are now wait-listed to get into some of the most popular programs,” she said.
For information about apprenticeship programs, visit www.cicbca.org/union-apprenticeship-training-programs. For information about the CIC and BCA, visit www.cicnys.org.
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