Nicole D’Silva | The Chronicle
Students are learning how to weld grills, build tables and assemble a shed through the Skilled Trades Workshop, a program from Jan. 6 to May 5 that gives students experience in the trades.
The workshop is sponsored by Creative Contracting Inc., M/I Homes, Elite Welding Academy and the MADE HUB for Manufacturing. Together, these companies donated $25,000 total for materials like safety gear, aprons and welding machines.
Vice President of Sales and Marketing at M/I Homes, Dan Tartabini, led the company in funding the Skilled Trades Workshop. He said the company recognized the importance of supporting enrichment in the trades.
“We can’t build our houses without [the trades],” Tartabini said. “It’s hard to find somebody in skilled trades, so this is a way for us to introduce it to students, since there might be some students who would rather pursue a career in the skilled trades. Even for the kids that don’t want to pursue a career in the skilled trades, they’re teaching them something they can use for the rest of their lives.”
MHS junior Jaxson Castner drills wood to make furniture under the guidance of experienced instructor Nick Francis, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Scrap2Home
Mason High School (MHS) junior Jaxon Castner is a member of the Skilled Trades Workshop. He said he has built tables, storage racks and similar furniture on his own, but he is learning more through the workshop.
“It’s definitely teaching me stuff that I don’t already know,” Castner said. “I’ve asked a bunch of questions in the first two weeks we were here, and I learned a lot.”
The students are organized in three groups of nine that rotate learning a certain skilled trade for three weeks, then move on to another. All groups are working together to build a shed for former MHS teacher Tim King’s Outdoor Wellness and Leadership program as a part of the rotation.
“This stuff I’m doing right now, I do regularly,” Castner said. “When I get to the shed, that’ll probably take the next step into what I’m going to do. I think the shed will be my favorite part, because I want to build houses for a living.”
In the trades rotation, students are learning to build furniture from scrap parts with the help of instructor Nick Francis. Francis is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit Scrap2Home, an organization that collects scrap wood before it reaches the landfill to build and donate to those in need.
“I was an educator for about 30 years before I started Scrap2Home, so I enjoy working with students,” Francis said. “I believe strongly in the mission of the skilled trades program, that is, presenting the trades as a pathway after high school. It’s fun to see students do something new and very hands-on, and to see their sense of satisfaction when they have built something.”
Colton Sinn, a senior at MHS in the Skilled Trades Workshop, said one of his favorite skilled trades is carpentry, which he gained experience in from the workshop. Sinn decided to pursue the trades after participating in the program.
“I like being able to physically do something,” Sinn said. “You know what the reward is, and you feel it. You feel what you did, but you also know what you did. You can come back to it and be proud of it, knowing you built that and you did that.”
A Kings High School student collaborates with MHS junior Brandon Compsen on a shed for former MHS teacher Tim King’s Outdoor Wellness and Leadership program.
Sinn said an appeal of the program is that students donate furniture they make to families in need.
“It’s a beautiful thing to have people get what they need when they need it, especially if you have too much of something,” Sinn said. “If people truly need it, and if you have the money or the items to donate, why wouldn’t you?”
MHS junior Sara Medina, a fellow participant in the Skilled Trades Workshop, plans to join the Army after high school. Despite her path, Medina said she still strongly values the trades and hands-on experience she got from the workshop.
“It’s an important life skill to be able to do some of the things that we do in here, like construction,” Medina said. “We’ve had so many outages here in Mason. More people should be aware of how to fix their own fuses and put back wires or rewire, because it’s good to know if you want to help somebody or help yourself.”
Bob Leslie is the owner of the MADE HUB for Manufacturing, where the Skilled Trades Workshop is held. He said that one of the biggest problems employers for manufacturing companies face is the lack of employees, which is why he believes the workshop is important and chose to support it.
“You can have a long career in skilled trades if you’re taught properly and you follow your dream,” Leslie said. “This is an opportunity to actually display to young people, to young boys and girls who are in high school, or even prior, that there is a real value in learning how to build things and you can actually use that to further your career.”
MHS junior Sara Medina works to clean and smooth steel edges in preparation for welding a grill, one of the several projects in the Skilled Trades Workshop focused on hands-on learning.
Welding instructor at the Elite Welding Academy, Ben Woolwine, is also a teacher at the Skilled Trades Workshop. Woolwine said he learned welding through the academy and decided he wanted to pass the knowledge forward to the next generation.
“Without tradespeople, the world just simply wouldn’t go around,” Woolwine said. “We wouldn’t have electricity, we wouldn’t have flowing water [and] we wouldn’t have a lot of luxuries that we take advantage of or don’t even pay attention to because we see them all every day since they’re so easily accessible.”
Sinn started learning welding through Woolwine, and said that the program has furthered his interest in the trades.
“You never know until you try,” Sinn said. “I’ve always thought about trades, even if it wasn’t my first career path that I wanted. I’ve always been intrigued by certain things like this, and I’ve always wanted to learn. Now I finally have an opportunity to actually try and do it.”
