{"id":1239,"date":"2024-08-19T17:08:51","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T17:08:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/?p=1239"},"modified":"2025-08-21T20:57:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T20:57:00","slug":"industry-labor-reaching-out-to-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/2024\/08\/19\/industry-labor-reaching-out-to-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Industry, labor reaching out to students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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.)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Chuck Slothower<\/strong>
\nFor Knife River Corp., exposing students to construction means an experiential visit to the training center.<\/p>\n

Every year, dozens of students visit the construction giant\u2019s 23-acre training center east of Albany, getting up close and personal with construction equipment such as skid steers and commercial trucks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe sitting across a table from a kid pushing a brochure at them is going to change their mind about a career in construction,\u201d said Kris Latimer, senior director for training and development at Knife River Training Center. \u201cOur 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\u2019re winning the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

There, students can \u2013 depending on available staffing \u2013 run an excavator or skid steer with trainers\u2019 help. Kids can also get inside commercial trucks and ride as a passenger on Knife River\u2019s 2-mile haul road or backing range.<\/p>\n

Latimer has relationships with high school educators throughout the Willamette Valley and relies on them to bring students to Knife River. \u201cSchools are constantly reaching back out, contacting us about youth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Knife River\u2019s career events for high schoolers \u2013 typically, the company hosts at least six each year \u2013 are scheduled during the school year. The company has to schedule the visits around its own training, because that\u2019s also when professional construction workers learn, away from the busy summer season.
\nLatimer also brings in educators for career \u201cexternships\u201d from organizations such as Linn Benton Community College and the Associated General Contractors Oregon-Columbia chapter.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are smart kids, tough kids,\u201d said James \u201cJimbo\u201d Anderson, business manager for Local 701. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to go to college.\u201d
\nThe union also visits high schools and even middle schools. Anderson said it\u2019s important to reach kids in Central and Eastern Oregon, where there\u2019s work on wind farms and other infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go to Prineville, our logo is on their wrestling mats,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe\u2019re marketing ourselves all over the place. We\u2019re having a lot of fun and a lot of success with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts getting the kids thinking, and a conversation starts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The efforts appear to working: Local 701 has more than 135 apprentices, up from 25 apprentices in 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not having a problem recruiting,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s 23-acre training center east of Albany, getting up close and personal with construction equipment such as skid steers and commercial trucks. \u201cI don\u2019t believe sitting across a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1241,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18615],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/djcoregon.com\/skilledmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}