Students Explore Opportunities
Recently, C.D. Smith's Senior Project Manager, Joe Van Handel, spent three days connecting and engaging with over 70 students from the ACE Academy at the Fond du Lac High School. The program is designed so that each week students from the ACE Academy focus on a different trade such as heavy equipment operators, painters, electricians and HVAC technicians. Different professionals from the trades come in and give the students a snapshot of their role in the construction industry.
Joe has been in the construction industry for over 27 years, of which he has spent the last 14 years with C.D. Smith. He has worked on dozens of multi-million dollar projects and was able to share with the students his real-world experiences. "Regardless of a student's current career plans, or lack thereof, these students will be impacted by construction throughout their lives, so having a fundamental knowledge of it can only help them in life," Joe explains. "The students shouldn’t feel pressured to have their career plans figured out in high school. Not all careers are lineal, and plans change. I was able to use my own career path as a real-life example."
As a Senior Project Manager, Joe centered his discussions with the students on the lifecycle of a project and overall project management from preconstruction to project closeout. Joe illustrated to the students how each phase of a project is intertwined and the importance of proactively managing each phase of the construction lifecycle. "I enjoy showing the students the value of planning ahead and showing the students how one hour of effective project planning can save up to six hours of field labor time," Joe says.
During his time, Joe also explored with the student the endless opportunities there are in the trades and held open discussions about working hard, earning a respectable career and making a good living wage in the construction industry. "There is a great opportunity for hard workers to earn a good living in the trades. A career in the building trades should be an honorable career. In the end, I was hopefully able to connect with some of the students to generate more respect for the adults, such as teachers and volunteers, that are making efforts to help them make the most of the opportunities that they have," Joe concluded.