Building trades need pros, not dropouts, say trainers

CEDAR RAPIDS - Jon Fasselius took the long route to becoming an electrician.

The Dubuque native went to college first, because “it was just kind of the next step.” He got a degree in electronic radio and worked in an office for a year. Then he left his degree behind and became an apprentice with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 405.

“It's the hands-on aspect that I really enjoy. It's really something I had never thought about, coming out of high school,” said Fasselius, 27, of Coralville.

Trainers in the building trades wish they had more apprentices like him, and they wish more high schoolers would consider the trades before graduation.

Construction firms and unions need workers not only with mechanical aptitude and a desire to work with their hands, but also good communication skills and a solid background in math and science. Successful recruiting, though, means overcoming longtime stereotypes that the trades don't require smarts.

It takes intelligence to be a pipe fitter or electrician today because these are jobs you do with your brain, said Mike Machula, training coordinator for the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 125.

“We need professionals,”

Machula said. “Thirty years ago, basically you took your high school dropouts and dumped them into construction. Those type of people in today's construction market aren't going to make it.”

You'd think it would be easy to sell talented high schoolers on a technical career. Fasselius is 18 months from being a journeyman electrician. He will make $60,000 a year, plus benefits. During his apprenticeship, he has worked full-time and hasn't needed student loans.

Many high schoolers don't consider the trades as a career option, though. They don't take technical classes, many of which have been phased out of high schools. They don't get on-the-job experience. Those who end up in the trades are often like Fasselius: They stumbled into it on their own.

“Everything in high school is geared to going to college,” Machula said. “If college isn't what you're there for, then you're kind of lost.”

Between 1990 and 2005, high schoolers who took a concentration - three classes - in construction or mechanics and repair declined from a measly 3.8 percent to 3.3 percent nationally, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

This is changing in the Corridor. High school students can take Kirkwood Community College classes in metal fabrication, automotive technology, nursing, horticulture, computer programming and several other practical fields.

The classes, called Career Edge Academies, are available to students from 50 high schools throughout the Corridor and as far south as Washington County. Participation has grown by 94 percent in the past four years, to 2,686 students this school year.

Prairie High School is about a mile from the Kirkwood campus, and the school takes advantage of the proximity. Some 254 Prairie students took technical classes at Kirkwood in the fall. That's four times as many as in 2005.

For many high schoolers, though, classes at Kirkwood are impractical. At Cedar Rapids Washington High School, counselor Dean Blanchard helps students sign up for the classes, but said it can be difficult to arrange travel across town. About 50 Washington students participate in the program.

Government and education officials have begun to acknowledge the importance of partnerships between industry, colleges and high schools.

Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, is pushing legislation that would amend the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, providing grants to groups of industry, colleges, high schools and unions that want to work together.

The Master Builders of Iowa recently gave $100,000 to the Iowa Department of Education to help develop statewide standards for commercial construction education and give students information on how they can advance their career in construction.

High schools do a good job explaining to students how to get into college, but they often don't give them a game plan for getting into the trades, said Mike Carson, training director at the IBEW Local 405.

Carson runs a program that trains 122 apprentices and said high school students would be better prepared if someone explained to them they should take a few technical classes, bone up on math and science, and try to get practical experience working with their hands.

Carson and Machula say guidance counselors sometimes direct troubled or underachieving students to the trades. They are not interested in recruiting students who don't study.

At a recent career fair, a counselor walked up to Carson and told him about a student who likes working with his hands but doesn't have math skills and doesn't do well in class. The counselor asked whether electrical work would suit the student.

“I said, ‘No,' ” Carson said. “Have him go be a bricklayer. If he can count to 10, then maybe he'll be OK.”

Dave Smith runs the student-built house program for the Cedar Rapids Community School District. Students work on a house from start to finish, and then Smith tries to sell it to pay for tools and expenses.

One of this year's students who knows he wants to go into trade is Kaleb Eby, 18, of Hiawatha. He's a senior at Kennedy High School and wants to take classes at Kirkwood until he can decide which trade to pursue. He started working construction for a friend's dad when he was a freshman in high school.

“I just fell in love with it,” Eby said. “I'll probably do something with construction. I just love starting from the beginning.”

Like Eby, students who choose the trades often have exposure to them outside of school. Blanchard, the counselor from Washington High School, said many high-achieving students never consider the possibility.

“We don't really funnel or direct any kids; it's just what they want to do,” Blanchard said. “The ones that are the brightest, they think they should go to a four-year school. Whether or not that's true ... probably not in every case.”