RACINE, Wis. — The Racine Unified School District (RUSD) held a career fair for students to speak face-to-face with a dozen construction trade companies in Wisconsin on Tuesday.
After a large referendum passed back in 2020 for RUSD, construction work has started on many buildings in the school district.
Thanks to the referendum, work is being done to essentially every school in the district. The companies in attendance are the ones doing the work throughout the district and will hire students to participate in the job.
As a part of those contracts with each company, the school district requested for companies to hire students at the schools to get a hands on apprenticeships in the trades.
Around a dozen companies within the construction trades sat down to chat and interview groups of sophomores and juniors in RUSD.
Many of these companies are in need of more employees and said it’s an added benefit to get the chance to talk to kids at a younger age about the trades and the work they offer.
“It’s exciting to expose them to things they don’t know,” Ryan Niegocki with VJS Construction Services said. “Things that they can work on in their own buildings. The schools they are going to be in. The schools that they are going to drive around for years to come."
Students in attendance said they were excited to be able to have one-on-one opportunities with big companies in Wisconsin. Also, to be able to work on the schools they went to as kids and go to now.
“Hopefully I can land an apprenticeship, find a job, and set myself up for the future,” high school junior Ian Williams said.
A total of 25 students will be chosen to have a one year or two year long apprenticeship. Through this, they will gain hundreds of hours of experience working on buildings.
“I just feel like this is the opportunity that is going to help me do that after high school,” high school junior Charlie Exner said.
Exner said he wants to get a job in the trades. He said he grew up watching his dad as a bricklayer and wants to have a job like him in the future.
“I’ve always been working with him since I was a little kid,” Exner said. “I feel like this is something I should do. I’ve always had my mind on it.”
The school district is happy to be able to provide this type of opportunity to its students while also getting millions of dollars worth of improvements done on campuses across the district.
“A lot of these opportunities within the youth apprenticeship program will lead to a bridge to an actual apprenticeship“ Alex DeBaker, RUSD executive director of academics and transformation said. “So we’re really looking forward to having life changing opportunities for these students.”