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Many high school students in the United States get hands-on training in construction skills by building real houses.
One such program was created for construction and design students in Waterloo, Iowa. The students have already received training in many areas of house construction. They have put up walls, built windows and doors and completed some wiring.
The project is run by the Waterloo Career Center. The center offers students different programs designed to prepare them for careers in technical fields.
Students from the Waterloo Community School District recently took part in construction training that centered on the skill of masonry – work done with stone, brick or concrete materials.
The students spent five days at their school learning from experienced workers from the Masonry Institute of Iowa, a professional organization.
The workers taught the students how to mix mortar and build walls with bricks and blocks.
One of the goals for the students was to build a pier – a solid support built to hold vertical pressure. It usually goes out from land and into water.
The students moved the mortar onto pieces of wood and then added bricks and blocks to form walls.
Hunter Pierce was one of the students taking part. He told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier newspaper that using the right amount of material is a very important part of the process. "You put a lot of mortar there so you have a lot of contact, just so in a couple years it doesn't fall apart," he said.
Chris Busch helped oversee the students' efforts. He told the newspaper that learning such skills will help the students be able to build their own solid structures later in their careers.
Busch said that, in this kind of hands-on setting, students can learn exactly how much mortar is needed to create a safe wall. He explained that the right mortar level for the students' pier project should be about one centimeter.
The students started the pier by putting five blocks in place. They finished the project by putting bricks and mortar on the outside to complete the look.
As the students worked, Busch offered them an important piece of advice. He told the students to be sure to use a leveling tool to check that the wall stands straight and level.
"It's fun...it's something to do," West High student Nathan Elliott told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. He added that this kind of learning is much better than sitting at a computer. "I like the hands-on stuff," he said.
Other students also said they liked this method of learning. Some said it got them excited about future careers in construction. These are the kinds of comments Chris Busch likes to hear during his training activities at schools.
"This is basically part of our recruitment," he said. However, he knows that no matter how good their training experience is, not every student will end up working in masonry.
Busch adds that bringing the program into schools is an important way to find the next generation of workers. "This is great having a whole week in here to present masonry to kids," he said.
I'm Bryan Lynn.
The Associated Press and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted it for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor.
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