KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Nearly 200 people were competed at this year’s National Craft Championships in Kissimmee.
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“You get to see what the men and women do in America that keep our economic engine really thriving and pumping,” Greg Sizemore, the VP of Health, Safety, Environment, and Work Force Development for ABC, said.
Industries in Career Technical Education are short nearly 500,000 workers across the country.
“We often promote construction as a career for somebody else’s kid not mine,” Sizemore said. “We’ve put this false bar in place that if you don’t have a college degree, you’re not successful in America.”
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Joel Dutton won the NCC’s 2017 pipefitting competition.
He’s someone who decided standard college wasn’t for him.
He said doing summer work in a small town in Alaska forced him to pick up a trade.
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“When you’re living that far off the grid you can’t just go to the store, you can’t just run down the street to get what you need,” Dutton said. “You have to learn to be efficient and make and do things on your own.”
Those skills can be taught right here in Central Florida.
Orange County Public Schools is just one of the avenues high school or post-secondary students can earn credentials for in construction, advanced manufacturing, or HVAC.
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Dutton said those programs can open many doors for the future.
“I stared on the field and now I’m in the office as an estimator,” Dutton said, “There are so many areas and facets you can grow into that it’s limitless. There is a ton of opportunity.”
Click here for more information about OCPS CTE programs.
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