More than 500 Detroit-area high school students attended the Sachse Construction Academy in Eastern Market Oct. 22 to participate in hands-on demonstrations with 35 skilled contractors, according to www.detroitnews.com.
The construction academy is in its fourth year and featured contractors from construction trades such as roofing, masonry and tiling. The event is free for students and schools, and for the first time, it included a skilled trades job fair for 18-to-25-year-olds.
Todd Sachse, CEO of Sachse Construction, said events such as the construction academy are meant to get young people interested in the construction trades as a career.
“Our industry needs skilled trades,” Sachse says. “There’s just not enough. We can’t get our work done fast enough with enough skill as we need to be able to do. Selfishly, I want to encourage people. Selflessly, we believe that there’s a lot of opportunity for Detroit young men and women.
“College is not for everybody,” he continues. “Just because somebody doesn’t go to college doesn’t mean they can’t have a successful, vibrant, engaging career. The average electrician, the average plumber, the average carpenter make more money than the average architect, so it is an incredible career, and I think a lot of young men and women don’t realize that. Part of it is to expose them to that opportunity.”
Jose Villarreal, academic interventionist for Breithaupt Career and Technical Center in Detroit, brought 11 students to the event and said such opportunities can change students’ lives.
“It really blows me away to see how the industry is really reaching out to the younger population to draw them into the skilled trades,” Villarreal says.
