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High school students get a chance to examine heavy equipment during a visit to the Knife River Training Center in Albany, Oregon. (Photo courtesy of Knife River Corp.)

By Chuck Slothower
For Knife River Corp., exposing students to construction means an experiential visit to the training center.

Every year, dozens of students visit the construction giant’s 23-acre training center east of Albany, getting up close and personal with construction equipment such as skid steers and commercial trucks.

“I don’t believe sitting across a table from a kid pushing a brochure at them is going to change their mind about a career in construction,” said Kris Latimer, senior director for training and development at Knife River Training Center. “Our goal is really to expose these youths to our company, our people and our values. If we can elevate careers in construction as a career of choice, then we’re winning the game.”

Knife River hosts several career experiences for high school students throughout the school year. Instead of a Knife River employee attending a career fair, the company has students visit the 23-acre Training Center campus.

There, students can – depending on available staffing – run an excavator or skid steer with trainers’ help. Kids can also get inside commercial trucks and ride as a passenger on Knife River’s 2-mile haul road or backing range.

Latimer has relationships with high school educators throughout the Willamette Valley and relies on them to bring students to Knife River. “Schools are constantly reaching back out, contacting us about youth,” she said.

Knife River’s career events for high schoolers – typically, the company hosts at least six each year – are scheduled during the school year. The company has to schedule the visits around its own training, because that’s also when professional construction workers learn, away from the busy summer season.
Latimer also brings in educators for career “externships” from organizations such as Linn Benton Community College and the Associated General Contractors Oregon-Columbia chapter.

Unions are also reaching out to youths in a variety of innovative ways. Operating Engineers Local 701, based in Gladstone, sponsors bull riders and visits rodeos throughout the state. The engineers union has appeared at rodeos in Sisters and Canby, and at 8 Seconds Rodeo, an event for Black rodeo athletes held in Portland.

“These are smart kids, tough kids,” said James “Jimbo” Anderson, business manager for Local 701. “They don’t want to go to college.”
The union also visits high schools and even middle schools. Anderson said it’s important to reach kids in Central and Eastern Oregon, where there’s work on wind farms and other infrastructure projects.

“If you go to Prineville, our logo is on their wrestling mats,” Anderson said. “We’re marketing ourselves all over the place. We’re having a lot of fun and a lot of success with it.”

Local 701 visits schools with a $300,000 simulator that students can run in modes including crane operation, bulldozer and loader. The union has visited more than 100 high schools in the past two years, Anderson said.

“It starts getting the kids thinking, and a conversation starts,” he said.

The efforts appear to working: Local 701 has more than 135 apprentices, up from 25 apprentices in 2016.

“We’re not having a problem recruiting,” Anderson said.