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Lake Weir High construction program gives students hands-on trade experience, industry certifications
Summary
Lake Weir High School’s four-year construction program lets students start as freshmen, earn industry certifications and gain on-site experience through community partnerships including the Marion County Building Industry Association; students recently built a horse fence at Reddick Collier’s equine center, instructors said.
Students in a four-year construction program at Lake Weir High School in Marion County are earning industry certifications and hands-on experience through local partnerships, program presenters and instructors said.
The program, presented as the Academy of Construction Technologies (ACT), lets students start as freshmen and progress through levels one to four, with opportunities for carpentry certification and a planned OSHA 10 certification, instructors said. "We have this phenomenal construction program," the weekly wrap-up presenter (name not specified) said. "So I am out here ... with Mr. Scott and Mr. Absher."
The program is supported by the Marion County Building Industry Association (MCBIA) and community donations, instructors said, which has helped pay for insurance and materials so students can work on real projects. "They give us a lot of support so that we can then build the program to get the students moving through our pre-apprenticeship program," Scott, a construction instructor at Lake Weir High School, said.
Absher, a construction instructor at Lake Weir High School, described a recent project in which students built a horse fence for Reddick Collier’s new equine center. "My students, we just finished a job at Reddick Collier... they’re going to be an equine center," he said. He added that students read blueprints, set poles, used levels and tape measures and gained practical site skills during the work.
Instructors said the program issues industry certifications that travel with students after graduation and that the MCBIA pooled funds to pay for insurance so students could be placed on job sites. Students at higher levels pursue carpentry certification above the program core, and staff said they are working to secure OSHA 10 training so students can graduate with that credential.
Program staff also said Lake Weir’s class is the only construction class in Marion County and that the magnet fair drew students to the school specifically for construction training. Community members and local employers donate lumber and other materials, instructors said, and the program leaders described the arrangement as a model of school–industry partnership for workforce development.
Looking ahead, instructors said students who complete higher levels will have more advanced on-the-job opportunities, including summer placements in the pre-apprenticeship program.
