We're making a lot of connections. . .
By Larry Major, Workforce Development Committee Chair
The Good Roads Workforce Development Committee kept on rolling right into autumn. On October 29, I attended the All Youth Count job fair in Manchester. All Youth Count (AYC) is a public-private partnership between Easterseals New Hampshire, the Division for Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), and private sector partners designed to provide foster care youth, as well as youth who recently exited foster care, ages 14-26 with assistance to lead successful, independent lives. The event, lasting just under three hours, hosted nearly fifty young adults who are considering next steps in their lives. Many occupations were represented from military and law enforcement through hospitality. Many guests came by the NHGRA table to talk and grab a copy of our magazine. This is a great reminder that there are pools of potential employees that traditionally do not come to our minds. Getting our name out into the community and explaining how people can join us has promise. But it is a long game and there is a whole lot of it left!
We took our Good Roads set up to Hudson’s Memorial Middle School on November 15 for a “speed dating” style career event. Classes of students came by the table for 10 minutes. Then the next class would show up. We ran out of magazines at this event! The students were excited and asked a lot of good questions. The Hudson counselors believe that they should expose students to opportunities early so students can be considering them along with college, military service, etc., when in high school.
Chris Robert and Adam Bates attended the Hopkinton Building Careers event on October 6 at the Hopkinton High School. The event was comprised of local builders, HVAC, plumbing, electrical and painting contractors as well as a few road and bridge builders. Students walked around to the various tables and talked with each company about how they became interested in the trades, what work life is like doing this for a career, how to get started in the business and they consistently wanted to know how much money they were going to make. Parents also attended this event, and their presence definitely influenced the conversations with students. This was a first-time event and attendance was low. We are hoping the school communicates with other schools in the area to drive greater participation next year.
Meghan Theriault volunteered to speak at the Interlakes Middle-High School on October 21 about her career in the construction industry. Meghan spoke to several honors math classes about being a civil engineer and changing from consulting to the public sector and her different responsibilities as a Town Engineer versus a Public Works Director. She highlighted the wide variety of exciting work including road construction, box culverts, flood damage and rebuilding, roundabouts, landfills, utility work, bridge repairs and rebuilding, budgeting, capital improvement planning, recycling initiatives, construction administration, and personnel management.
After talking about how rewarding her career has been, she encouraged students to explore their options and find something they could enjoy daily. She reminded them that there are unlimited careers out there, many of which do not require a full four-year degree, but a twoyear degree, apprenticeship, or even on-the-job training opportunities. Meghan was the first speaker in a series of career presentations being set up by Mike Griffin, Executive Director of the Career Partnership Program, which is a valuable partnership between the Greater Meredith Program and the Interlakes School District working toward exposing students to different career options and setting up internships and job shadows.
The committee meets again in January to review our work for 2022 and begin discussing our plans for 2023. We made a lot of connections in 2022 and we are excited to continue promoting our industry and expanding our network in 2023. If you are interested in joining us, please let us know by contacting Brenda Clemons at the NH Good Roads office: info@nhgoodroads.org
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