BYC Contractors in the Classroom Profile: An Open Letter & Call to Action from the BYC Director!
BYC Contractors in the Classroom Profile: An Open Letter & Call to Action from the BYC Director!
My Fellow BYC Ambassadors and CAGC Members,
The summer season is upon us and it’s time to enjoy being outdoors on the weekends with friends and family, sporting your flip flops, and relaxing with cool drinks at the end of our hot Southern days. Now that school is out, it’s also the perfect opportunity to begin thinking about and planning your Contractors in the Classroom visits for the Fall 2019 school semester! Since last year, BYC has been on a mission to build as many solid relationships as possible with our Carolinas region K-12 schools and their educators. To date, we now have over 365 schools all across NC and SC that are actively registered to participate in school/classroom visits from our BYC Ambassadors as part of the “Contractors in the Classroom” program.
It should come as no surprise to anyone reading this letter that today’s students don’t have a solid understanding of the construction industry. This is in large part due to a lack of exposure in their current curricula of studies since Shop Classes and skilled trades-related training have all but been eliminated in most schools. If we can’t put our trades training back in all the classes, it’s time for US to put our Contractors in all the classes! We, as members of the construction and trades community, must assume the role of “construction industry champions” if we truly want to ensure the growth and sustainability of our amazing industry!
What better way to be a construction industry champion than by becoming an active BYC Ambassador on behalf of your company? As an Ambassador, and through our numerous BYC outreach programs, you can get involved with your local schools to spread the “construction love” while sharing your vast industry knowledge with Carolinas region middle and high school students.
Conducting your classroom and school visits will now be even easier because your fully-loaded Ambassador toolkits are available for you! These toolkits include multiple resources and Ambassadors are highly encouraged to customize many of the resources to reflect your company’s contact information, career pathway info specific to your company and your company’s available internship/apprenticeship positions and job opportunities. To further ease the process of getting your classroom and school visits lined up, I will even help you with your initial scheduling process with your chosen schools!
This open letter serves as an immediate “call to action” to each and every one of our loyal CAGC member firms. Build Your Career needs your support and participation—and so does your industry. The only way we can truly guarantee that our Carolinas region students continue to hear about all the wonderful benefits available and limitless opportunities awaiting them in the construction industry is to share this information with them ourselves.
By registering your CAGC member firm to participate in the Contractors in the Classroom program and by nominating Ambassadors to lead BYC outreach efforts in your area on behalf of your company today, you are proactively leading the charge in guaranteeing the viability, success and the future of our industry for tomorrow! Will you heed this call to action and sign the pledge (form accessible here) today to register as an Ambassador to be a “champion” for your industry?
Respectfully,
Tammy Ford, Director of Build Your Career
For more information on the CAGC Foundation’s Build Your Career workforce development initiative, our Contractors in the Classroom program or to volunteer to become a BYC Ambassador, please visit our website at www.buildyourcareer.us/ or contact Program Director, Tammy Ford, via email at tford@carolinasagc.org or by phone at (704) 995-3901. To make a contribution to BYC, please visit our secure online donation portal.