Hands get dirty

PALMER — Some might think twice before giving a teenager a welding torch, but that’s exactly what the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 367 did Tuesday.

Under the watchful eye of master tradesmen, high school students tried their hands at welding copper pipes at one of the 10 hands-on demonstrations at the Alaska Construction Career Fair.

Held at the state fairgrounds, students from across Alaska clad in blue and red hard-hats with orange vests got an introduction to jobs in the trade industry. In addition to the 10 hands-on stations, there were 15 pieces of heavy equipment and 25 booths representing educational and employment opportunities.

“The purpose of today is to give kids a real-life and hands-on experience in construction careers,” said Mari Jo Parks, coordinator of the event.

The event was funded by the Department of Transportation and Department of Labor with support from different labor unions. The labor unions ran the 10 hands-on demonstrations.

The station that drew the largest crowd was the backhoe simulator run by the Alaska Operating Engineers. With a computer display and two joysticks, the video gamers were right at home.

Mario Dix of the Painters and Allied Trades Local 1959 stood above the crowd on stilts showing the students how to mud drywall. As Meily Ochoa from South Anchorage High found out the hard way, you can only patch a large hole if you have the mesh in place first.

Members of the Ironworkers Local 751 had a station for students to build a rebar frame as well as a I-beam structure. The structure had a supporting beam hanging from a simulated crane. Eric Stickler watched as Sakalia Fiamate of Dimond High straddled the beam and bolted it to the upright.

In addition to the hands-on operations, students got a chance to tour different pieces of heavy machinery. DOT was there with various graders, plows and blowers, and Northern Industrial Training made the short drive from their school on the fairgrounds with a trailer and truck.

Matanuska Telephone Association had a big presence at this year’s fair. One of the most striking machines was a plow cat MTA brought out for the students to test the driver’s seat. The plow cat has a huge spool of cable in the front that feeds over the top of the machine. It then goes down behind a giant claw that digs a trench in the ground.

“This is the fastest and most effective way to lay new cable,” said plow cat operator Joe Trost, “only if there are no other utilities in the ground already.”

MTA towed a trailer into the Raven Hall to demonstrate their fiber optic technology. When fiber optics were first used for telecommunications, each house needed two lines, one for sending and one for receiving, said Rick Richardson. Now, through the use of splitters, a single line can service up to 32 homes.

Fiber optics are replacing older copper lines, said Richardson, and Tyler Aklestad demonstrated how to fuse two lines together. One end of each line is put into a box, and both ends are cut with a diamond-blade cutter. A small heat source fuses the glass tubes together.

This, along with all the other demonstration, is the sort of thing Gary Abernathy hopes will inspire students. Abernathy works for the Department of Labor as a career guide for the Anchorage School District. His career center was one of the many booths inside Raven Hall.

“We’re the only true job center for youths in the state,” said Abernathy. “We focus on jump-starting someone’s career in high-growth trade-type jobs.”

Their after-school employability classes are very successful, said Abernathy, as is their annual hiring fair. Last year, there were 71 seniors and 41 employers. All 71 students were employed before graduation.

Tuesday’s event was not a job fair, reminded Parks, just an informal introduction into the different type of trade jobs out there.

The morning session was dedicated students just from the Mat-Su and Anchorage school districts with over 700 attending. The second session was for students from homeschools or more rural communities with a turnout of about 120. The day ended with a informational session for parents or anyone else interested in the trades.

A similar event for middle school students will be in Fairbanks on Tuesday. Parks is planning another Construction Career Fair for high schoolers in Fairbanks the beginning of the next school year.

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or (907) 352-2252.