Construction Education Trust, dba Southeast Michigan Construction Academy (SEMCA) has been growing and changing over the last three years. With the board’s vision of tripling enrollment in five years, we are also looking for new ways to educate the SE Michigan area and to attract new and more students to our school and the trades in general. We will remain firmly rooted in delivering onground, high-quality trades apprenticeship education for ABC members and non-members. We are also opening our minds to new and inventive ways of delivering programming to a variety of students and customizing our programs to meet the needs of new generations of students as well as changing trends in the industry. Below are a few changes on our horizon:
More Specialty Classes
Our students need skills that make them an asset to their employers on the jobsite. In addition to their four-year trades instruction, we will grow our specialty classes offerings. Courses such as blueprint reading, an overview of project management, a Day in the Life of a Foreman, purchasing, career outlook and pathway planning, Journeyman and Master Electrician Test Prep and NEC code change classes are just a few we are considering. We plan to invite the community in to these courses to educate and build skills in our community and showcase our school.
OSHA 10 & 30 Certification
All SEMCA apprenticeship students earn OSHA 10 certification during their first year of school. This safety certification gives our students immediate knowledge that makes them a valuable asset on the jobsite, not to mention making them acutely aware of safety from year one. Anyone who takes OSHA 10 can then go straight to OSHA 30, should they need it to move into a foreman or project management position.
Working with K12 Partners in SE Michigan
We all know more employees are needed in Michigan to support the trades; partnering with K12 to offer next steps for high schoolers who want to pursue a trade makes good sense. “I get so many calls from school principals and superintendents asking what we can do to help them find options and pathways for their students,” said Mickey Mortimer, VP of Workforce Development for ABC. “We can be flexible and creative when we collaborate,” he added. SEMCA staff are busy with community outreach and education via career fairs, presentations, pre-apprenticeships and employer meet n’ greets to create unique programming and increase the number of students interested in pursuing trades to create direct pathways from high school to SEMCA.
New Programs
You speak, we listen! You asked us for a Heavy Equipment program and to modify existing curriculum to jump start employee skills. Planning is underway for our Heavy Equipment program-more to come. We are also developing a shorter, non-DOL one-year carpentry program and 1-, 2- or 3-yr HVAC program where students will learn the needed skills in year one and if they so desire, they can return to gain more skills that will lead to DOL certification in both HVAC and Carpentry.
If you want to teach or enroll in any of the above courses, enroll your employees in our September classes or share your ideas about ways we can grow, call our office and ask for me: 248-298-3600.
