Stanislaus-area high school students learn how to land $100K-plus construction jobs
Dozens of construction companies had one main message for high school students gathered in Modesto: We hope to hire you.
The third annual Construction Trades Day took place Wednesday on the Modesto Junior College West Campus. About 800 juniors and seniors from 23 schools checked out booths about carpentry, concrete, wiring, plumbing and other skills.
“I’ve kind of had that mindset for manual labor,” Beyer High School junior Gatlin Mendes said, adding that he leaned toward welding.
The event was put on by the Valley Builders Exchange, a Modesto-based group that helps contractors with hiring and training. The industry seeks to replace retiring workers amid a job market that offers many other choices to young people.
Some construction jobs can pay upward of $100,000 a year, said Chuck Johnson, vice president of VBE.
“What we’re trying to do is get the word out to the younger generation that there are great ways to make a living in the construction industry,” he said.
Other Beyer students found it worthwhile
Beyer junior Nathaniel Montez said the event will help him have backup options as he enters the workforce.
“I’m planning on becoming a firefighter,” he said, “but if that doesn’t work, I want to try construction.”
Classmate Fredy Khela, who hopes to become a real estate investor, said he found many of the booths useful.
“It shows you how you can renovate a place, what a property is worth,” he said.
The event drew students from Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin and Calaveras counties. VBE sought attendees with various interests, not just “shop” classes, CEO Christine Schweininger said.
One employer brought a crane
The students gathered in MJC’s Ag Pavilion, which has a high ceiling and a dirt floor. It offered plenty of room for a crane from Don Pedro Pump of Turlock, which explained how it inspects deep wells with a camera.
Attendees could look at but not touch many of the exhibits. The exceptions included the aluminum studs used by Haggerty Inc. of Stockton, which a few students bolted together with a power tool. Others operated a small backhoe brought by United Rentals, a global construction equipment rental company.
Johnson is an estimator and project manager for CVE Demolition, based in Vernalis. It knocks down old structures to make way for new ones and safely handles asbestos, lead and other hazards.
Public employers also turned out. The Modesto Public Works Department showed off a rig that drills into the ground without disturbing utility lines. The Turlock and Modesto irrigation districts had booths about their electricity systems.
Students could bring resumes to be evaluated by experts, and take part in mock interviews. MJC and several other schools had information about their career training, much of it for jobs that do not require four-year degrees.
This story was originally published November 16, 2023 at 5:00 PM.
