Construction Career Day in Hopkinton May 4 and 5

Massachusetts Construction Career Day will take place on Wednesday, May 4, and Thursday, May 5 at Hopkinton's New England Laborers Training Center at 37 East St.

The day is intended as a chance for high school juniors and seniors to have a look at opportunities in the construction field.

Volunteers from different aspects of the construction business will offer students a taste of  the skills they will need to enter the profession, and also a look at what types of skills they can expect to learn in the construction business.

On May 4,  students from western Massachusetts will spend the day at the Laborers Training Academy and on May 5, students from eastern Mass. schools will arrive.

Organizations participating include the Mass. Highway Department, the Federal Highway Administration, Construction Industries of Massachusetts, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, New England Laborers, the Mass. Aggregate and Asphalt Pavement Association, the Massachusetts Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association, and the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE.

Other organizations support the event with materials, volunteers and funding.  The Engineering Center in Boston hosts the MassCCD, or Mass Construction Career Day, website at www.engineers.org/massccd.

There are a wide variety of career paths possible in the construction field and this event is designed as hands-on exposure. There is construction equipment for the students to try and design challenges to figure out.

Student will operate heavy equipment and computers under the supervision of trained operators. Students will learn how a concrete mixer works, design bridges with high-tech engineering tools, handle a jackhammer, excavate a site or develop a plan for clean water and air. Some will build a project from the ground up. 

Volunteers from different construction disciplines will talk to students about the skills, technical knowledge and professionalism needed to do their jobs.

The construction business includes managers, engineers, laborers, heavy equipment operators, carpenters and surveyors. Donald Trump, the real-estate developer, reality television star and candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomination, is in the construction business.

One goal of the event is to remove a perceived stigma from the word “construction” and broaden teachers' and students' understanding of the industry.

Instructors will also identify for the students employability skills that translate across all professions.

The DESE’s (formerly the Department of Education) Massachusetts Work-Based Learning Plan will create a curriculum around the event, including pre- and post-event classroom activities. 

Students involved in marketing, art or writing have designed posters and brochures. Media students will videotape and photograph the event, helping to get the MassCCD message out to other students and teachers. 

Many of the professional and trade associations involved offer students and teachers information on how to arrange for an outreach visit, or where they can get additional information on careers and scholarships for education in engineering and construction.

About 600 students are expected to participate each day.