Construction training may help build careers

DAVIE — Chocolate asphalt and concrete cookies are just two of the tools used to attract the next generation of Florida road and bridge builders to careers in construction.

Nearly 2,000 students from about 50 schools in Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties were getting hands-on training at the 16th annual Construction Career Days, Tuesday and Wednesday, at the Bergeron Rodeo Grounds in Davie.

“What we’re trying to do is expose kids to the variety of career opportunities there are in the transportation industry, particularly highway and bridge construction and maintenance,” said Barbara Kelleher, with the Florida Department of Transportation.

The state agency teamed with more than 100 Florida companies, local governments and schools so students like Coconut Creek High School senior Peter Charles, 18, could get behind the controls of backhoes, front loaders, bucket trucks and other heavy equipment.

“I actually got to drive one of the dump trucks,” he said. “I was really nervous because I didn’t want to mess up the machine.”

For the high schoolers learning to build roads, the aroma of chocolate overpowered any diesel fumes.

They lined up to learn how to make just the right consistency of concrete and asphalt — not too hard, not too soft — using melted chocolate and mixed nuts. And they could eat the results.

Tracy Hoppe, an automotive technology instructor at Robert Morgan Educational Center and Technical College in Miami, was impressed by the interactive nature of the field trip.

“One of the largest growing fields right now is in diesel repair because of all the construction sites south of [Lake] Okeechobee,” he said. “They need people to repair all the trucks, tractor trailers, backhoes [and] they don’t have enough.”

The rodeo arena was filled with about 45 learning labs that focused on environmental planning, surveying, traffic management, multi-media training, equipment maintenance and even impaired driving simulations.

“The kids really love it,” said Carolyn Khan, a Coconut Creek High School teacher. “It’s fun, it’s engaging and they never want to leave.”

Kelleher said while there’s a need to replace retiring workers, career days are about more than building roads and bridges.

“They are building bridges between school and their work life,” Kelleher said. “Literally and figuratively.”