Masonry Magazine October 1997 Page. 12
be increased and contractors who are aware of the programs need to be more willing to hire the students.
Minnesota
A program recently proposed for Alexandria Technical College in Alexandria, MN takes community college involvement a step further. Through the combined efforts of the people at Alexandria Tech and at the Minnesota Concrete Masonry Association, the college is offering a two-year degree program in concrete and masonry technology. This program will prepare graduates for a wide range of opportunities in the masonry trade such as supervisory positions, estimator, masonry instructor, product sales representative. Programs similar to the Alexandria program are being consider in other parts of the country as well.
Traditional and Vocational High Schools
High Schools and vocational high schools are perfect places for students to gain exposure to the masonry trade. The difference between the two is that a traditional high school may offer masonry as electives as part of a student's program. A vocational high school serves an entire district or regional area and handles comprehensive curriculum on a wide variety of vocational areas.
While high schools are great places for students to gain exposure and some basic understanding of the masonry trade, one drawback is that the high school level curricula vary a great deal. High school level masonry curriculum can be as comprehensive as three years of masonry or as brief as one unit in a year long construction trades class. Even so, contractors and other industry groups should make the effort to cultivate the programs that exist and the high school and votech levels because this may be the first place students have the opportunity to be exposed to the masonry trade. Additionally, students who have completed a relatively extensive high school program usually have a good understanding of what is required to be a mason and are often more successful candidates for apprenticeship or other post high school training programs.
Southern California
To increase exposure to the trade as well as recruitment into the community college programs in the area, the Masonry Industry training and Promotion fund of Southern California has created 4 "feeder programs" in the high schools in that region. Created under the school-to-work guidelines the masonry programs in the high schools range from 1-3 semesters. They include lecture as well as hands on experience. One particular comprehensive high school program requires that the students take 80 hours of masonry per semester for 4 years.
Minnesota
For the second year many of Minnesota's masonry industry associations and St. Cloud State University have offered the Minnesota Masonry Academy. The combination of lecture and hands-on experience helps participants, the majority of whom are high school vocational or industrial education teachers develop their abilities to teach masonry skills.
According to Brian DiGrado, Director of the Minnesota Concrete Masonry Association, masonry instructors have a wide variety of backgrounds. Some instructors were masons by trade and became instructors. However, many current high school masonry instructors were teachers first and have never been career masons. The Academy is designed to help these instructors become more proficient in the art of teaching masonry. It is also a place where instructors can become better versed on all aspects of the industry and with the types of resources available to them.
One outcome of the Masonry Academy is that program sponsors have been successful in getting instructors to introduce or reintroduce masonry into the current construction trades courses. This is a critical success because for so many years high schools have been eliminating masonry courses or modules due to lack of enrollment,
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