On April 4, students at Roosevelt High School in North Portland
found a 40-ton crane on their football field, courtesy of Campbell
Crane. Building trades unions are trying to recruit young people
and wanted to draw attention to a new after-school trades program.
One hundred students gathered on the bleachers, and Operating Engineers
Assistant Business Manager Nelda Wilson pitched building trades
apprenticeships — “earn while you learn” —
as a worthy career track.
Then it was time for volunteers to try operating the crane. The
goal was to lower a ball into one of several blue cans, but it wasn’t
as easy as it looked. It took the principal an eternity to get the
job done. When Deborah Peterson, the first student, tried to make
the basket, the ball swung so wildly on its cable it looked like
it might hit a precariously parked SUV. A star athlete and two other
students did little better; the prize for fastest basket —
a $100 gift certificate — went to the school’s Rose
Festival Princess Sascha-Eden Samantha Preston. Maybe after four
years of apprenticeship, they’ll do better — and be
ready to earn the $29-an-hour wage that comes with that skill.
The after-school trades program began this week and is intended
to interest students in union apprenticeship programs and help them
get ready to participate as soon as they graduate. Fifteen students
signed up for the class, which is being taught by a trainer from
the United Brotherhood of Carpenters apprenticeship program. Students
will build a work table and other basic furniture at Roosevelt,
and will take tours of union apprenticeship programs.
