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Completing its second year, the 2007 Summer Construction Camp was a huge success.  Over the past two years, 37 out of 41 students completed the program, and at last report, four camp graduates from 2006 have entered various construction-related institutions following high school graduation. 

In partnership with the Portland Public Schools, the selection of the students focused on good grades, attendance and the willingness to work a summer job in construction.  With the camp limited to 20 students (and two alternates), the selection process was difficult because of the large pool of applicants. 

15 local construction companies participated in this year’s program, nine of which are members of the Oregon Columbia Chapter – Perlo McCormack Pacific, P & C Construction, Gibson Door & Millwork, Inc., Andersen Structures, LLC, Brockamp & Jaeger, Inc., Emerick Construction, Interior Technology Modernfold Northwest, O’Brien Constructors LLC, and Turner Construction.   

The eight-week program allowed students to “test-drive” a career in carpentry   Students received an initial 48 hours of classroom instruction ranging from ergonomics to safety/OSHA 10 to hand tool safety to measuring/reading a tape measure.  The Students spent eight hours per week at the Willamette Carpenters Training Center learning work ethics/communication, scaffold training, basic blue print reading, and applied math. 

The remaining 32 hours of the work week was spent wearing hard hats, safety glasses, work boots and well-equipped tool belts.  The Students worked on projects from small tenant improvements to multi-story condominiums.  The student jobs included moving materials, clean-up, setting frames and concrete form work just to name a few.

This course is growing in popularity and will be repeated next year.  It is an eight-week immersion into the craft of carpentry and the construction industry in general.  It is the hope of all, that by the end of the course each student will gain knowledge of the past, present and future of the carpentry trade and would seriously consider and investigate a career in the construction trades.

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