Spend a few minutes with young construction apprentices and it’s obvious many are wise beyond their years—not to mention hardworking, moti-vated and, at times, competitive.
Associated Builders and Contractors (
ABC) harnesses all these characteristics at its
National Craft Championships, an annual competition that challenges apprentices’ skills and puts their talents on display. Participants must perform a hands-on test designed specifically for their craft, with judges and other industry members and competitors just a few feet away. The event is big, loud and pressure-filled, but the best competitors set that aside and focus on the task at hand. They come to win, and along the way discover the experience is about more than a gold, silver or bronze medal.
The More You Know
This year’s National Craft Championships will take place April 24–27 at the
ABC EdCon & Expo in San Antonio, Texas, but preparation is already under way for most competitors. In order to compete at the national level, they must be enrolled in and sponsored by an ABC chapter, member firm or chapter-approved training program.
The
ABC Keystone Chapter holds its competition in conjunction with its annual Construction Rodeo, a family fun day that benefits the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Merit Shop Scholarship Fund. Since 1997, carpentry, sheet metal, electrical and plumbing apprentices have faced off in annual written and practical skills tests that simulate the national competition. The chapter has sent 42 apprentices to the National Craft Championships during the past 14 years, with 19 winning gold, silver or bronze medals.
Matt Woodcraft, a plumber with central Pennsylvania-based
Haller Enterprises, registered the highest score on the written exam to earn a spot as one of four people the chapter will send to the 2012 National Craft Championships.
“I really enjoyed the bookwork in preparing for the competition,” Woodcraft says. “During the competition, I had to put all my time, skill and knowledge into one three-hour period. If I second-guessed myself, I had to quickly decide to go back or move forward.”
Woodcraft was introduced to the plumbing field through a vocational program his junior year of high school. He took a four-month class that reviewed each construction craft, and was most impressed by the job opportunities in plumbing.
“My teacher found jobs for most of his students, which perked my ears up,” he says. “This line of work is so broad. You can do maintenance and service work or be in the Navy or work with nuclear power plants. The skills are needed anywhere in the world.”
His senior year of high school, Woodcraft attended the
Lancaster County Career & Technology Center (Brownstown campus) full time and completed his first year of apprenticeship. Haller Enterprises first hired him between his junior and senior years of high school to see if he was a good fit for the craft and the company. Pleased with the results, Haller brought Woodcraft on full time and he began his second year of apprenticeship with the ABC Keystone Chapter.
On the job with Haller, Woodcraft performs residential rough-ins and finish work—from installing pipes and drilling holes to designing supply lines and installing sinks. “I like to be physically active and to work with my hands; this job allows me to do that and be outdoors,” he says. “This line of work gives me a great source of knowledge on basic plumbing, as well as HVAC and electrical. It’s also a great avenue for learning professionalism and how to be a courteous service person.”
Woodcraft is thankful for the support he receives from Haller—whether it’s using a company van to drive an hour from the jobsite to class, qualifying for tuition reimbursement or knowing he can call his boss, a master plumber, with any question that arises onsite. With the National Craft Championships around the corner, he also called on a colleague who won the plumbing competition a few years ago for advice on learning new job-related skills.
“I’m excited to learn things I’ve never done before and then put them to use in the competition,” Woodcraft says, noting the experience will help his career too. “The more you know, the more the company appreciates you and can use you in other areas. If they know you know how to do something, they can send you anywhere to do the work.”
The More You Give Back
Derek Herr, who won the gold medal in carpentry at the 2011 National Craft Championships, already is reaping the benefits of participating in the competition. When his superintendent hands him a set of drawings and asks him to do something like lay out anchor bolt locations, Herr feels confident rather than overwhelmed because he logged so many hours reading prints for the competition.
“A couple weeks ago I noticed one of the guys I was working with didn’t do the trim perfectly, so I went up to him and joked that it would have been a couple points deducted at the National Craft Championships,” says Herr, who works for
Wohlsen Construction, Lancaster, Pa.
That confidence and competitive spirit traces back to Herr’s time as an athlete growing up and as a student at
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology, where he earned an associate’s degree and connected with Wohlsen at a career fair. The firm’s recruiter, now Herr’s boss, told him about the ABC apprenticeship program and National Craft Championships.
“He said every year they get close, but hadn’t had somebody win it. I said, ‘I’ll take you there.’ Lo and behold, I ended up winning the local competition and he came to watch the whole thing.”
Herr was nervous about everything that would have to be accomplished in just six hours at the national competition in San Antonio, so he committed himself to studying and gathering as much information as possible from the ABC Keystone Chapter. He also got in touch with a previous competitor to pick his brain about what to expect and whether he should spend time worrying about small mistakes. The guidance he received came in handy when the person next to him during the competition hung his drywall differently, causing Herr to re-check the print and question his decision. In the end, he forged ahead with his original plan and came out on top.
The importance of the advice and support he received was not lost on Herr, who decided to mentor the chapter’s next round of competitors in the National Craft Championships. “During the plane ride home from San Antonio, it hit me that everything I learned in that short period has helped me on the job,” he says. “Knowing the great experience I’ve had, it would be selfish not to help others.”
Dave Sload, director of education for the ABC Keystone Chapter, is impressed with his apprentices’ willingness to stay involved in the training process. Three of his current instructors are previous medal winners, and he suspects Herr may teach some day too. “These young kids are just getting started in their careers. The competition improves their chances of succeeding, and now we’re seeing the giveback with them either teaching classes or mentoring future competitors. Talk about building an industry,” he says.
In terms of what he’ll share with competitors like Woodcraft, Herr emphasizes the role education and coursework play in positioning apprentices to say, “I know how to do that” instead of “I can’t.”
“If you’re going to do something, be the best,” he says. “ABC gave me the opportunity to be the best at something and I proved it. I can literally say carpentry has taken me places.”
Note: This is the first in a series of articles on ABC’s National Craft Championships. Look for coverage of San Diego competitors next month.
Who: Craft apprentices from ABC chapter, member firm and chapter-approved training programs across the country.
What: Written exam and practical performance test in a variety of crafts, including carpentry (residential/commercial), electrical (residential/commercial and commercial/industrial), fire sprinkler, HVAC, insulation, millwright, pipefitting, plumbing, sheet metal and welding (pipe and structural). Top finishers receive medals and cash prizes.
Where: ABC EdCon & Expo, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas.
Why: To foster growth and excellence in training the future construction workforce, as well as showcase the talents of open shop apprentices to the industry, public and media.
When: April 24–27.
For more information, including video highlights from previous competitions, visit
www.abc.org/craftchampionships.