AGC Georgia’s eight annual Skills Challenges reach more than 2,000 students
BY MIKE DUNHAM
CEO, AGC Georgia
Throughout our nation, contracting firms need more talent. Just like many of our sister chapters, AGC Georgia places a large amount of resources on workforce development initiatives from both grassroots efforts to high-level advocacy for millions of state tax dollars to be allocated to funding construction curriculum. Over the past decades the industry has not done an exceptional job of encouraging young people to consider careers in construction. Added to that, a big pendulum swing occurred over the past 30 years where influencers told young people they couldn’t be successful without a college degree. This can’t be further from the truth.
While our staff is deeply ingrained in the conversation, we are also very fortunate to have contractors willing to help shape the future of their workforce. They are very open to meeting with high school or technical college instructors in their area to find out what they need to create a more dynamic curriculum. Often the requests are simple – a jobsite tour, more materials for lab projects or individuals to speak about their career path during a class period. All of these industry-to-classroom connections help young people envision a construction career path.
Through these industry-to-classroom connections over the past decade, AGC Georgia and many of our contractor members have found a great way to reach thousands of students each year.
AGC Georgia is fully and enthusiastically dedicated to its long-standing Skills Challenge series.
So, what exactly is a Skills Challenge? It’s a competition, and the students take it seriously … and the instructors take it even more seriously! For some students, this is their Friday Night Lights moment. The events allow competitors to fine-tune their specific craft in a competitive setting. The core competition areas include carpentry, electrical, masonry, plumbing and welding. Students are given a project and have two hours to complete it. They are judged on workmanship, adherence to safety guidelines and how well they bring their project’s plans to life. Winners from these events go on to compete in the SkillsUSA Georgia competition.
Projects can include brick walls, framed up and blocked out for a window, electric paneling with wiring systems for switches and plugs, plumbing utilizing both brass and plastic connections, masonry projects involving diagrams for a stone wall that the student must put together. All is very translatable to today’s commercial construction needs. Most regions have enough space at their venue to offer blueprint reading competitions, which is a big component of our industry.
In 2023, the program will host eight regional construction competitions for more than 2,500 high school students. This is double the events that were hosted just four years ago. This statewide initiative is supported by hundreds of industry firms. In 2022, more than $350,000 was donated to the AGC Georgia Foundation to support these events. A large percentage of the funds remaining after expenses is donated to participating schools to help instructors purchase materials needed for their construction labs. In some regions, a school can receive an AGC Georgia Foundation check upwards of several thousand dollars!
AGC Georgia is proud of its efforts to welcome not only students and their instructors at the Skills Challenges, but hundreds of influencers including state legislators, school superintendents, high school counselors, mayors, school board members and leaders from the Department of Education and Technical College System of Georgia. We believe it’s critical to get as many influential state leaders to the events to see for themselves the opportunities available in construction.
This past fall, we had over 1,100 student competitors and even more student observers in attendance representing 90 high school construction programs throughout Georgia. While competitors are showing off their talents, the observers are meeting with exhibiting contractors to learn more about industry opportunities.
Competitors truly want to impress the industry judges and often, a competitor will leave the day’s event with business cards from judges. Perhaps most rewarding is the increased participation from competitors’ parents and grandparents. They come to sit “courtside” and proudly watch their students compete and benefit from speaking with industry representatives to learn for themselves about career opportunities.