Interactive activities, hands-on experiences introduce students to construction jobs at career expo

Decked out in a high-visibility vest and custom safety glasses, Elizabeth Faulkner walked through a tunnel formed by towering bulldozers, excavators and other heavy equipment.

While other students stopped to sit in the cab of an 18-wheeler or try their hand at operating a mini excavator, Faulkner instead headed straight to a booth where engineers were demonstrating how they test dirt and concrete for construction.

“My dad is a technical engineer … so I’ve been interested in it all my life,” said Faulkner, an eighth-grader at Caledonia Middle School. “But I’ve started thinking about engineering a lot more now, especially seeing more parts of it.”

Exposing students like Faulkner to the different jobs in the construction industry is the entire point of the two-day FORGE Your Path Expo at East Mississippi Community College’s Communiversity this week. On Wednesday, eighth-graders from 15 schools toured the expo, with another eight schools slated to bring students on Thursday.

“It’s not your typical walk around and get something just by looking and listening,” said FORGE Executive Director Melinda Lowe. “They are truly engaged throughout the entire time.”

It’s the fifth annual expo FORGE has held at the Communiversity. Founded in 2018 as Family Organizations Recruiting Great Employees, FORGE was started with the goal of bringing more attention to careers in construction.

Students get a closer look at those careers during the expo, participating in interactive experiences ranging from running heavy equipment and flight simulations to laying concrete and practicing core drilling. Each activity is designed to help the students explore the different options they have with skilled trade careers, especially locally.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity for our students, just to show them the breadth of industry that we have locally and all the different jobs that we have available, not just within the trades, but also the executive levels,” said Shasta Dodd, director of marketing at Waters Truck and Tractor.

Not all jobs in construction look the same, Dodd explained to a group of students. On the executive level, employees on the business side of things have to make sure a construction company runs smoothly, she said.

“There’s so much more to the industry than just driving the truck or operating the equipment,” she said. “There’s the people that have to do all the ins and outs of the daily business.”

The expo specifically engages eighth-graders because they’ll soon be planning their high school degree paths.

“This is the time that they’re really starting to look at what career path they want to go down,” Lowe said. “Then they meet with their counselor, and they can have that conversation. They can help prepare them to make those class decisions to where it fits into the schedule.”

But it also gives the businesses a chance to show off their skills, while also getting recognition for the work they do daily.

“You find out how rewarding it is for people to acknowledge that you provide this important part of society,” said Nic Parish, vice president of operations at Burns Dirt Construction. “When our employees get to talk to kids, they’re a hero for a day.”

Part of the expo is working to shift the perception that skilled trade jobs are a less successful career choice than going to college, Lowe said.

“We’re wanting to show that this is a very viable career field,” she said. “There are really good salaries that are involved in the trades, and so we just want to show that as a viable option.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.