Contractor publishes illustrated children’s book to spur interest in construction…
Written by Nick Fortuna for Constructor Magazine
Something happens between the toddler years, when kids push dump trucks and stack building blocks on the living-room floor, and the teenage years, when ambitious high-school students worry about their class rank, convinced that an expensive college degree is their only path to success.
Whether it’s through parents, teachers, media or other influencers, kids get the message that construction is an “alternative path,” a backup option in case they can’t hack it in college, said Chris Eccleston, owner of Salisbury, Md.-based Delmarva Veteran Builders. Over time, that misperception has fueled a prolonged labor shortage in the construction industry, with 91% of firms having a hard time filling some positions, according to a 2022 survey from AGC of America and Autodesk.
For the construction industry to thrive, it needs a robust labor force, and that means reinforcing the message to kids that it’s cool to work with your hands. Eccleston, a 41-year-old Navy veteran who started his own business in 2013, is trying to do just that.
In February, he and Jenny Kerr Schroen, his company’s creative director, published a book they co-authored, “Grit Leads to Greatness: An Epic Quest Built to Change the World.” The 36-page book is aimed at elementary-school students and features colorful illustrations by Australian artist Justin Donaldson and assistant Rachel Danae.
The message of the book is twofold, according to the authors. First, adversity is a part of life, so it’s important to show grit and work together to solve problems. Secondly, when grit is paired with construction knowledge, people are capable of building some truly incredible things. Eccleston said the industry has been reaching out to middle-school and high-school students in recent years, pitching them on the many lucrative and rewarding career opportunities in construction.
But it’s important to reach kids at a younger age, when eye-catching animated characters and a captivating story still have the ability to spark their imagination, he said. In the story, siblings Tegan and Trig live in a decaying society that has been hypnotized by mysterious glowing stones.
No one remembers how to build anything, so when an earthquake devastates their city, the siblings embark on an epic journey to a place called Greatness, believing it holds the key to saving their city.
Obstacles block their path, but the kids befriend fanciful creatures who teach them important trade skills, enabling them to reach the next leg of their journey. Five different trades are represented by superhero-like characters: Mason the Mason, Rowan the Snome Carpenter, Arc the Welder, Copper the Amphibious Plumber and the Electrician Magician.
“We use the five trades to educate kids that construction is vital to humanity,” Schroen said. “We want every kid to understand that construction matters, it affects everyone’s life and if we don’t have a construction industry, the world will literally fall apart. So, that was the setting – a futuristic, crumbling world where construction knowledge has been forgotten.”
Schroen, a skilled graphic designer, joined Delmarva Veteran Builders in 2019 and rebranded the company’s marketing efforts around the theme “grit leads to greatness.” She developed a series of posters similar in appearance to the World War II posters aimed at encouraging Americans to sacrifice and band together. In the poster drawings, construction professionals appear dignified, poised, hardy and hardworking. The posters earned Schroen a 2020 MarCom Award, given to marketing and communications professionals for outstanding work.
“I wanted to bring some art and excitement to the marketing of our industry,” she said. “It was a fun project because I was really diving into what makes construction special and which character traits are important in construction and in life, and the word ‘grit’ kept coming
to mind.”
Schroen and Eccleston began working on characters and a storyline for a book early in 2021, and by late spring, they had a rough draft. After an extensive editing process, they began contacting editors, publishers and illustrators, with Schroen remaining “hands-on” throughout the project, she said.
“It’s a story that matters to me,” she said.
The goal was to publish the book in time for National Read Across America Day this past arch. Eccleston said approximately 40 contractors purchased 25 books apiece and sent a representative to read the story to elementary classes in Salisbury. All told, construction professionals visited about 60 classrooms over two days, he said.
Every second- through fifth-grader received a copy of the book, a key part of the project given that many low-income children lack access to books at home, Eccleston said. Delmarva Veteran Builders hired a Hollywood production company to make costumes of the book’s characters, and actors wore them to school to take pictures with students.
“The kids were really engaged,” Eccleston said. “Kids took the book home and wanted to read it with their mom and dad, so we received a lot of notes from parents, teachers and principals after the event. One principal said he heard kids saying they wanted to be masons because then they could build something that would stand forever.”
Eccleston said he enjoyed watching construction professionals read his book to children with visible pride and enthusiasm, pleased to be educating and entertaining students at the same time.
“They were just beaming, really, and it was awesome to watch,” he said. “It was
one of the best days of my career.”
Eccleston said his characters could be used in a number of ways to continue outreach to young children. In addition to book sequels, the characters could be “gamified” through interactive experiences like augmented reality and virtual reality, allowing students to build things alongside the characters and take part in their adventures, he said.
“As an industry, we need a systematic approach for how we’re going to grow our workforce going forward, and it’s important to start young,” Eccleston said.
As students get older, that’s the time to make the case that the industry typically provides good pay and benefits, opportunities for advancement and meaningful careers. It also rewards hard work and dedication, as evidenced by Eccleston himself.
“I’m the typical success story that the construction industry promotes,” he said. “You can start at the ground level, work your way up, start your own business and be successful. I’m that guy.”
For now, however, Eccleston is focused on promoting “Grit Leads to Greatness.” He’s encouraging contractors and trade associations across North America to purchase books for a classroom and participate in their own reading day.
In July, AGC of America invited Schroen to its Executive Leadership Conference in Vermont, where she shared the company’s plan of enlisting AGC chapters to host reading events next March during National Read Across America Day. She said she handed out 100 copies of the book and spoke with the executives of approximately 30 chapters. The book also will be made available on Amazon.
“Word is getting out, and the interest has been kind of overwhelming,” Eccleston said. “We’ve had contractors from all over the country, some in Canada and even out in Guam, buying bundles for classrooms, and we’ve also had people find us on their own, so it’s been great to see that happen. We want to work with groups like AGC to replicate what we did here locally all across America.”
Now that the book has been published, Schroen said she can joke about how challenging the process was. She and Eccleston thoroughly revised the rough draft and spent a lot of time communicating their vision to the illustrators. It was a two-year effort with a firm deadline in mind.
“It was a way longer process than I ever expected,” Schroen said with a laugh. “It’s not for the faint of heart. Chris and I joked several times that if the title of our book wasn’t ‘Grit Leads to Greatness,’ we probably would have given up.”