Episode 13

La Crosse Builders Association on New Initiatives for Students

About BizCast Greater La Crosse

We bring you news from the business community. From startups to experienced problem solvers, you’ll get in-depth insight on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Greater La Crosse. Our show is a collaboration between WIZMNews.com and BizNews Greater La Crosse ( GreaterLaCrosse.media ).

Full Transcript [ generated by AI]

  Our pathway has always been geared towards getting our students into these four-year universities for the last 20 years.

And so we have this shortage and for students, this is a great opportunity for them to see what’s out there and it’s all in our community.

Welcome to Biz Cast Greater La Crosse, a weekly podcast from Biz News. We bring you news from the business community. I’m your host and founder, Vicki Markussen.

Today joining me is Adam Kirshner with Energy Line and Tina Bailey with the La Crosse Area Builders Association. Welcome. Thank you. One of the reasons that I wanted to invite you is you have a new event coming to the area that is very timely and for many of you, as you can guess, the builders association represents many people in the building industry, and it’s all about making sure that housing stays affordable and that there, in this case, that there is a development of the people needed.

Build homes, essentially, whether that’s builders, whether that’s subcontractors. So talk about your brand new Build My Future event that’s coming up on April 18th.

Thanks for having us, Vicky build my future. April 18th is a hands-on career day that is targeted towards high school, junior seniors, and beginning college students that are looking to explore the trade.

This gives ’em an opportunity to see what the many different offerings in our community are and connect with local businesses. It’s a one-day event. It’s from nine to two. So it’s very targeted and short. And it’s good for our businesses to get involved in because it’s not a huge amount of commitment.

But it’s an opportunity for the students to connect with them in ways that we’ve never had before. We have. Various skills from electricians and plumbers and construction industry all the way to manufacturing of. Plastics and acrylics and cutting materials on CNC routers and things like that.

We also have the Wisconsin National Guard is going to be there, but their engineering unit, so students will be able to see some of the military options as well. But the goal of this particular event is to offer. Students with a pathway to careers and jobs in our community and not outside of our community.

Fantastic. And so this is the first event. So you’re talking about what you have planned and going, this is gonna go as planned. We know it, of course. So Tina, talk about where the idea came for this.

So we have been doing a building careers day for some years. It’s. Been quite a few years, and the big thing that I would get from the instructors that brought their students is, this is a great event.

 Thank you for doing this. But it would really be nice to have something more hands-on because the students don’t always like to be talked to anymore. They like to have hands-on. That’s how they’re learning. And so for years we’ve been trying to. Figure out how to do that. And so I went to a national convention that the National Association of Home Builders puts on, and there was a, a separate workshop and someone from Missouri said, Hey we started this Build my future.

 And so I was. It piqued my interest, obviously, cuz it was something that we were looking for in our area. And so got more information. Unfortunately, Covid hit and put a stop to our plans. But I’m. So excited with some help from other associations. Other communities in Wisconsin have started this event already, and so I’m so excited to bring it to the La Crosse area because it’s definitely something that is needed.

 Just to, again, showcase what is out there in the trades and in, what’s out there for students to be able to.

 So this is the first time Adam. Talk about what’s that vision? When you think about this event being successful, what does it look like from the student’s perspective? What do you hope they experience?

 The need was so great in the community over the last several years. We’ve all experienced this workforce shortage. We keep hearing from our builder association members. We’re trying to hire, we’re trying to hire. And so from the student perspective, it’s okay, I have, all these opportunities after school, am I gonna go to a four year university?

 Am I gonna explore a like a white-collar job, a blue collar job? Am I gonna go to a two-year technical school? So from the student standpoint, they’re able to really get a feel for what some of these more technical skill jobs are. And it could be anything from like culinary or medical to construction trades.

 It’s just a, an all opportunities type of deal.   Today we have very limited opportunities for our students. Our pathway has always been geared towards getting our students into these four-year universities for the last 20 years.

 And so we have this shortage and for students, this is a great opportunity for them to see what’s out there and it’s all in our community.

 Tina, what have the other associations that have done this, what kind of experiences do those students.

 We took a field trip. There was a few of us from the La Crosse Area Builders Association that took a little field trip.

 We actually went to Des Moines because they had been doing their event for three years plus. And St. Croix Valley has. This will be, this year, will be their third year. And Wausau just had their first one last year. And so we decided to go to Des Moines just because they had a little bit more experience.

But the students, they were, as Adam had mentioned earlier, welding building there was the.  the fire and the police and the military. And so it really is wide open as to what they’re doing. We’re gonna have pouring concrete, we’re gonna have the welding simulators, but we’re also gonna have the welding, the actual welders.

We’re gonna have simulations for the electrical. We’re gonna have building, we’re gonna be actually working with the Rotary program and we’re gonna be building some different things for the community. It’s a full day of a lot of different activities and it’s definitely a community event.

Yeah. So the businesses that are participating really have to shift mindset, because I’ve even run the standard old job fairs where you get a table in a booth and it’s very, non-interactive, aside from walking past it and talking to someone. So they’re really having to get creative as to what they can do in the span of nine to two, and even a short span within that.

That’s interactive,

correct. Well, and can I also mention, as Adam was saying earlier with what programs are in the school, we’re also feeling that shortage.  in the school with the instructors. So you know, the fact that we used to have those different classes and those D opportunities, while our students don’t have those opportunities, just because the instructors in the schools are, it’s hard to find those instructors to do and to teach all those different things.

So if we can bring the students in, at least this may be their only chance to experience that one activity, and that might be the spark that gets them started and saying, yeah, this is really what I wanna do. I really enjoyed doing that.

They might have not have that opportunity at their schools, whereas this one day event might be that particular thing that just gets them started. Yeah,

and the amazing thing, I’ve worked for associations for 20 years, membership business focus, and this is.  staff running this. As much as the volunteers wanna think that this, it requires the passion of volunteers.

And Adam, I look at you and say, you stepped up to chair this. That’s being a leader, right? And pulling other businesses together to make this happen. Why did you wanna take that leadership role?

This is a. A community service project and it’s actually been amazing the members on this committee and how much involvement we got right away in the commitment.

We’re meeting every other week just because this is our very first year with the event and. . We have a lot to do, right? This is like planning a major wedding for 800 and some odd people with food and something for them to do. I don’t wanna say games, but li literally some of what the exhibitors are going to be doing is games and competitions.

And one thing we haven’t mentioned yet that I want to, is.  when we were in Des Moines and we saw their event, there was companies there that were offering apprenticeship programs and summer programs to students, right at the event. And they had posters up that said, Hey, we’re paying X amount of dollars.

If you come and work with us for the summer, and you want to see what a career in landscaping, for instance, is all about. We’re willing to pay you like $15 an hour. And for a high school student, that’s a pretty phenomenal amount of money. Plus, it gives ’em a lot of experience opportunities. Yeah,

I was chuckling when you gave the analogy of a wedding.

I’m like, but it’s a wedding filled with teenagers. Right? Right, but, but this is a recruitment tool.  That’s ultimately the end goal is that these kids, that when they turn 18, are gonna become. A future workforce, if you will. And so it’s a interactive way to showcase, as you guys have said, showcase what the building trades are all about.

And it’s not just pounding a nail, it’s pouring concrete, it’s making signs. It’s all of the components needed for building a home. So it’s interesting because it’s called Build My Future, but it’s also not just for the students, it’s building the future workforce for those. Employers.

And to be honest, one of the things that we have at our office, at the La Crosse area Builders Association, we receive calls from the general public in regards to, I have this project and I’ve been calling and I can’t get anybody, or I’m on their list, but I can’t get anything done for another year, and I just have to.

Yeah, you’re right. Just because there’s not enough workers out there to do the jobs, so you do have to get on their list. And this is part of it, is we need to get the people to do the jobs that are out there. And this is one step forward to

to that goal. We have jobs that are in the trades industry.

You could go to a four-year university and get a history degree, and your opportunity for job outlook after that is you’re either gonna become a teacher which requires another certificate, or you’re gonna become a librarian or something of that nature. Those jobs are fewer and far, more difficult to obtain.

And you look at. The outlook for wages and benefits and, they’re 50 to $75,000 a year on average for that kind of stuff. Starting. You look at an electrician that comes out of a two year program.  and they’re making 45, $50 an hour starting out. . mean, That’s phenomenal. And I don’t think that the students know that, that these opportunities are available to them.

And right here in our community, all of these companies are hiring constantly. Everywhere you go, you see banners and signs up that says, now hiring. Yeah. This

workforce shortage started. Decades ago. honestly and the industry is very clear of we needed trades 15 years ago. And honestly, what I think is starting to happen is the tuition amounts, amount of debt the students are going into is causing people to finally pause and go.

They’re gonna be paying off massive amounts. It’s delaying them being able to buy a home, like it’s having a ripple effect on their lifestyle. And so finally, I think the parents are saying, there’s gotta be another path here. And so there’s a tremendous opportunity for the trades because as you said, Adam, they can go.

essentially, oftentimes they’re an apprentice, so they’re getting paid to learn and journeymen, and so they come out with hardly any debt, straight income, and they’re automatically ahead of others that have done a four year

degree. Mm-hmm. , Tina’s been collecting the numbers, but the interest in the program, once the war got out in the community absolutely blew up.

We. Parents calling the association and school, calling the association, how do I get my students enrolled, into this program? And now we’re on a waiting list because this wedding is only so bad. Yeah. 

And it is teenagers, so Yeah. You dunno how it’s gonna go.

Yeah.

So we, we have a lot of moving parts.

They’re, they got, they’re getting a T-shirt and they have safety equipment, eye protection, ear, Hand, ear earplugs, all these different things. So there’s a lot we have to plan for. And we wanted the vent to be absolute quality. So we’re keeping it I’m not saying small cuz it’s actually quite large , but we’re keeping it to a manageable number this year and then hopefully next year we can expand it more if we get.

More volunteers from the community to help put this thing on.

Nice. It takes a lot. It definitely takes a lot. And that is something that if you are interested, we do have a volunteer sign up. Otherwise, if you are a business that has an activity that would fit we have some space available for that as well.

And

this is not the only. Program that you run to encourage the trades, correct?

Correct. actually, a week after this event, we will have our annual building Careers Tools for Schools giveaway. And so what we did at the beginning of this year is we sent out our grant applications to the area high.

Schools, the Lacrosse area Builders Association actually serves five counties. And so all of the high schools in those five counties, we sent out grant applications and asked them, Hey, what do you need for your programs? What tools do you need for your programs, I should say? And they submitted those applications, and we have $12,000 worth of tools that we’re gonna be hand.

Like I said, the week after this event to those instructors. Plus, there’s a lot of other things that we do just at our home show this, a couple weeks ago we had some student-built projects. And so those projects, we provided the materials and the students built them, and then we auction them off and that money goes directly toward that.

Tools for Schools program and then. We’re a connection in between the two between the schools and our members. So there are times that the schools are like, Hey, do you have an electrician? This would really fill in my program. If we had an electrician come and talk about what they do.

Yeah, we can get that sent out to our members. So there’s a lot of different connections that we have with the different schools as well. So it’s, I feel it’s a good collaboration. Great.

You’ve been listening to Tina Bailey and Adam Kirshner. Tina’s with the Lacrosse Area Builders Association and Adam is with Energy Line and also co-chair of Build My Future.

It’s coming up on April 18th at the Omni Center, but it’s kind of full, so they’ll take business. Is, but they’re trying out the students, making sure that they don’t have more than they can handle this year, but hoping to expand it next year.

You’ve been listening to Biz Cast Greater La Crosse -news out of the business community.

We’ll catch you next week.