How’s a kid to know?
It’s a really big question. When asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” How can a kid answer without knowing the possibilities?
Now-a-days, hands-on experience or information about how things are made is non- existent for most kids, and yet they are expected to know at an incredibly young age, from the unfathomably huge number of occupations, what career choice is best for them.
Build Montana graduates: (L-R) Rebecca Watson; Tyler Harakal; Olivia Parker; Bennett Petersen; and Noah Neice. (courtesy photo)
Tyler Harakal, on the job, at RDO. (courtesy photo)
Leaders of Montana’s construction industry are changing one aspect of that. On many fronts they are introducing young people to the astounding number of careers that await them in construction. Montana business owners, managers, and veteran workers are opening doors and providing opportunities for those intrigued with the industry. Quickly catching on is a program called Build Montana, now in its second year, developed in partnership by the Montana Contractors Association, the Montana Equipment Dealers’ Association, and the MCA Education Foundation.
Faced with an ever growing labor shortage, industry leaders started exploring the reasons and discovered, much to their surprise, that the kinds of jobs that kids are most typically introduced to in this highly technical and consumer-oriented life style, are far removed from most basic industries like construction. So for many youngsters it remains true that “milk comes from grocery stores;” they have never been exposed to what it takes to bring products and services to market, and to know what must be built to do that.
Currently Montana has about 63,550 construction jobs, which pay an annual average salary of $53,000. Each year, in Montana, about 550 new jobs are created in construction.
One new high school graduate was asked what construction jobs he knew about before he started Build Montana. He replied he had seen flagmen.
A trainer for the program said that in starting his first class he discovered, much to his surprise, that his young trainees didn’t even know the names of common pieces of equipment, and he had to re-do his class plan.
In the past couple of years, through Build Montana, many young people have been given an eye-opening opportunity to get hands-on experience, gain understanding about how construction workers actually build the world we live in, and to connect with industry leaders who are eager to give them a hand up. From among the ten Build Montana graduates this spring, several are now working and training in Billings with noted companies that are involved in the construction industry – RDO, COP Construction, Tractor & Equipment, and Knife River.
Introduction to the construction industry cannot begin too early. Take a jaunt through the toy section of any department store, and you will see that where once there were toy dump trucks and “diggers,” there now abounds super hero dolls and Star War guns.
The huge popularity of an event called DigIt Days has proven that the toy selection isn’t devoid of real-world facsimiles because today’s kids aren’t interested. The excitement on the children’s faces and joyful exclamations at seeing the huge machines on display, upon which they can climb, and pretend to drive and explore, tells it all. It is beyond anything kids ever imagined. Now in its third year, DigIt Days will be at Montana Fair, August 19 and 20, providing an introduction to the world of big machines, sponsored primarily by local businesses involved in construction and those that depend on the construction industry. Many children leave crying, not wanting to leave, after their parents have had to forcibly drag them away from “Sand Mountain,” where they can play, to their hearts content, with “digging” machines in the dirt!
No! Interest in the world of construction has not lessened for the current generation – not at all.
DigIt Days was started primarily as a fundraiser by Yellowstone Family, the non-profit foundation of Yellowstone County News. That it fit perfectly with the needs and strategies of Montana’s construction industry, while still serving an important need for the community’s youth, was quickly recognized, and the event has become an opportunity to exhibit Montana’s construction industry while providing fun and education and raising funds for scholarships – all of which is the mission of Yellowstone Family.
Build Montana is a huge opportunity, says one of this year’s graduates, 18- year–old Brandon Kunkel, who began a new job at T & E just last week. “I didn’t know where I wanted to go with my life,” said the graduate of Billings West High School. “Nothing clicked in high school.” Brandon decided, in the last semester of high school, to give Build Montana a try. That’s when things clicked.
Travis Clayton, technical trainer for T & E, described Build Montana as a “peek under the tent.” Ten students from Skyview, West, Senior and the Career Center were in the 2022 program which was supported by RDO Equipment Co., Tractor & Equipment, Tri-State Truck and Equipment, Knife River and COP Construction.
The students are trained how to operate backhoes, excavators, skid steers, scrapers and graders. They learn about hydraulics and electrical systems, about mechanical maintenance and most of all about safety. They visited the Stillwater Mine, watched crews laying sewer line, and visited the Knife River batch plant. They then get an opportunity to try building a road in T & E’s back yard, and they participated in digging contests.
Brandon has since been accepted into the CAT Think Big Program which offers technical training in Portland, Oregon.
Brandon said he received three different job offers from different companies, and he opted to accept that from T & E, which has created a summer job in “building and maintenance,” which gives him broad exposure to the whole business. Training at Think Big in Portland means going to school for three months and then returning for three months to apply what he has learned at T & E. He will alternate every three months between school and work, to complete two years of training which will result in being a certified mechanic. Brandon said he hopes that in time he will be able to travel, as a big equipment mechanic, throughout the state.
Brandon became enthused about big machines. He said, “You don’t understand until you see the sheer power of these machines. . . They are so very powerful and can do so much.”
Brandon is thankful for the opportunity to learn about the big machines, but most of all he appreciates the responsibility he was given and that “they trust me enough to operate them.” In the program, “they went out of their way to help me out,” said Brandon, “…anyone, who takes it seriously, can have their career mapped out by the time they are done as a senior in high school.”
Noah Niece, a Skyview graduate, is working at RDO, as an Access Your Future Sales Intern — a role that provides sales support and assists with machine inventory coming in and out of the dealership. It gives him broad exposure to the whole company and all its products, explained John Hurd, the Billings store manager. Hurd is very dedicated to the whole program of introducing young people to construction. “It’s exciting,” he said, about watching the young people learn and start making decisions about their future. Two students from last year, after working “in the field” decided to go to college this fall, still pursuing construction related careers.
Hurd is seeing these young people build the future of his industry.
Noah’s ultimate career goal is to work with a construction company operating heavy equipment. He completed over 22 John Deere University training modules earning 45 credit hours of training towards his level 1 John Deere certification as part of Build Montana.
Two of the students this year were young women, including Olivia Parker, a former Skyview student who was attending the Career Academy when presented with the Build Montana opportunity. Olivia’s family had been involved in the construction industry, and she had a sense it was something she wanted to do. But even for her, Build Montana was eye-opening. “It was extremely beneficial,” she said. “I learned a lot more. I discovered that there are a lot more job opportunities in construction than what I thought. It made it more clear what I was getting myself into.”
Asked about being a woman in a male dominated industry, Olivia said it was no problem within the construction world – it’s been people outside who expressed disdain or were less accepting. Her mentors and teachers were most welcoming and other students in the program were respectful and supportive. Olivia’s current job at COP Construction is as a basic laborer. Whatever she is to do in the future she expects “to work my way up.” She thinks she wants to become a heavy equipment operator, but said Olivia, “I am going to learn a lot along the way. I am completely open to where the road takes me because there are a lot of different pathways.”
