Geared Up for Fall Semester

Words: Jason McCoy

Along with finding potential leaders in the next generation of masonry professionals, getting to work with instructors in CTE programs throughout my region offers a great sense of hope and expectation.

Add to that an environment where new technologies and materials are examined in a group of learners, and the feeling is one of accomplishment.

Recently in RAC 3 and RAC 1, I have worked with colleagues in the industry in Iowa, New York, and Indiana to highlight pathways to a stronger masonry workforce.

There’s a 30,000-square-foot facility on the east side of Indianapolis that will soon host hands-on masonry training for high school and adult learners. The Skilled US organization is lined up to cultivate a strong crop of trainees, and they have brought many resources together to provide a stellar program of discovery.

The Iowa Masonry Council sponsored an event in July that gave CTE instructors intensive, masonry-focused sessions where attendees learned about masonry’s role in the design and construction industry. It really provided an enhanced understanding of what makes masonry unique and essential. With Marshalltown as the setting, high quality and standards in the building and masonry trades were on full display.

In Syracuse, New York, Masonry Foundations for Educators was the program that we participated in. It offered critical subject matter to focus on as a way to solidify masonry skills, being included as essential to success in construction. Upstate Masonry Institute and BAC Local 2, along with the NY BOCES, combined forces to make it happen, and it was an honor to help “spread” the knowledge.

It is inspiring to see how many competent people far and wide take their roles as educators so seriously. As leaders, Robert Melgaard and Connor Birdsong continue to devote themselves to making masonry education accessible, thorough, and meaningful to a huge array of people throughout the country. Recently, they were in Reno, Nevada, on a mission to support and guide educators on how best to develop new masonry talent.

Upcoming activities I am looking forward to include demonstrating a mobile masonry instruction unit that has been developed at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. We are looking to make stops in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky before the end of the year.

Let the building and innovation roll on!


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