Sundt Construction in Tuscon, Arizona has started a summer internship to employ local teachers and show them what it’s like to work in the construction industry. There’s so much to like about this program I don’t know where to start.
For Sundt, it’s smart because they get an intelligent, motivated employee, at the height of the busy season. For the teachers, it’s great exposure to a world they don’t normally see. They’ll come away with a much better appreciation for business and the enthusiasm contractors and construction workers put into their jobs. And one would hope the teachers would pass those insights to their students and be more likely to steer students toward future construction careers. I’m sure this is going to pay Sundt great dividends when it comes to finding and recruiting high school students.
For what it’s worth, in one of my early construction jobs we hired a teacher for the summer. He was a regular guy who wanted to make a little extra money. He kept up with the best of us and was missed and hard to replace when he headed back into the classroom.