Students put construction skills to test in competition

Let's continue on here as we talk about a competition that is happening in Gainesville right now where students are putting their construction skills to the test and exploring careers that don't require a four-year college degree. Our Chris Rosenthal joins us now live with all the details. Chris, good to see you. Yeah, good to see you, Tyler. So yeah, I'm here at the Skills Challenge here put on by the Associated General Contractors of Georgia and they actually been having this competition all day, having the awards now and actually they just announced the overall winner. I'm just going to pan around. It's East Hall High School here winning overall here for this overall winner here for this competition here for the Skills Challenge. Now, they've had a variety, a variety of different competitions here from masonry to welding to carpentry to electrical, you name it. And it's all, you know, about getting some workforce development for these students, getting them ready for skilled trades, really helping to close that gap. These are very good careers and very good jobs out there and well-paying jobs out there that await some of these students here should they decide to go into these fields. I spoke a little bit earlier today with Zach Fields. He's with Associated General Contractors of Georgia. A little bit more about that. Why is it so important to get these kids ready for skilled labor? We can't build anything without people. And, you know, besides just the need to have this kind of labor and talent to build the projects and help communities to develop, we think it's a very important opportunity for young people right now on what they get out of it, too. You know, this is the American dream, live and well. We have so many shovel-to-CEO stories or just people that come in, work hard, have access to a good career straight out of high school or quality post-secondary training. All of these programs are connected in some way to AGC Georgia, this event, and this really matters to us. We've seen a big turn right now in interest from young people in joining the construction industry in some capacity. There's a term out there called Generation Tool Belt. We think that fits very, very well with this next generation that probably saw an older sibling or two maybe go the four-year route and the degree didn't pay off or they're not working in the same field they were studying. You know, you see a student debt crisis is also fueling that decision. And I'd say AI uncertainty or insecurities as it relates to other careers that may go away or drastically change. People feel that the skilled trades are a really good bet as far as a job that's going to be around, remain essential, and pays well. Yeah, East Hall High School here. This team just won the overall winner here at this competition. This is one of eight of these that they're having across the state this year, and this is the first one they've had. And what's really interesting, too, is also see the amount of women here competing, about 15 to 20 percent of the contestants here, people involved, about 270 students, by the way, 20 schools represented here today. About 15, 20 percent of them are women. So very, very cool to see. So, again, at the Skills Challenge here, Associated General Contractors of Georgia, back to you. And so I understand that there were several different types of competitions. Was there one that stood out to you that they were competing in that caught your eye? You know, I love watching, you know, watching to see what they can build. You know, watching the carpentry is always fascinating. You know, there's even broadcast news and production, video production. That's pretty cool to see, too. So maybe we'll be working with some of those folks coming up in the future. Yep, super cool. Chris Rosenthal, I appreciate you showing us around. Congratulations to the team that won, and obviously we'll be checking in with you over the course of the next several hours this afternoon for more details on what exactly happened today. Chris Rosenthal, thanks so much for joining us from Gainesville. I do appreciate it.