"Check Out a Career Masonry"

Masonry Construction, April, 2004 by Ron Holzhauer

The Mason Contractors Association of America's "Check Out a Career in Masonry" high school recruitment program is nearing its one-year anniversary and has enrolled nearly 1200 schools representing every state in the country. The program was designed "to recruit talented, hardworking youths that will carry on the trade's reputation for quality workmanship into the future."

Each high school responding to the MCAA effort receives a masonry kit for its career library and guidance office. The career kit is intended as a first step in establishing a long-term relationship between the school and the industry that hopefully expands into events such as career days, establishing a vocational masonry training program, and arranging community events. The bottom line of the program is to enhance the masonry industry's image in the eyes of the students and grow the work-force, which has been waning in recent years.

The recruitment campaign is financed by a sponsorship program that costs $200 per school. Associations, manufacturers, and contractors are participating in the sponsorship program. About 800 schools are currently in need of sponsorship.

Melissa Polivka, MCAA director of workforce development, reports that 16 states representing 279 schools are fully sponsored (or nearly so). These states are Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Utah, Texas, Missouri, New Mexico, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, and North Carolina.

California has the most schools in the program with 89, followed by Michigan with 67 and Pennsylvania with 64. States with the greatest need of sponsors are California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin.

For more information about the recruitment kits or sponsorship program, e-mail mpolivka@masoncontractors.org.