{"id":11543,"date":"2023-10-02T15:41:54","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T19:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11543"},"modified":"2023-10-02T15:41:54","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T19:41:54","slug":"students-develop-trade-skills-while-making-school-repairs-with-seasoned-pros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/students-develop-trade-skills-while-making-school-repairs-with-seasoned-pros\/","title":{"rendered":"Students develop trade skills while making school repairs with seasoned pros"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Jordan Pearson-Crawford, student at the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Students developed their carpentry, masonry, electrical and plumbing skills by making repairs with seasoned professionals inside Virginia Beach school buildings this past summer.<\/p>\n

Jordan Pearson-Crawford, a Bayside High senior who is in her second year of the masonry program at the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center, is one of six students who practiced their trades with the Office of Maintenance Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like laying brick and seeing what things look like after everything is put together,\u201d said Jordan, who has also studied carpentry, plumbing and electricity at the Tech Center. When making masonry repairs at several schools, she learned how to make sure that replacement bricks match the color and style of the original construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t want to walk into a school, look at the bricks and be able to tell that repair has been done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jordan worked on three projects at Larkspur Middle School. Jordan helped repair some cracked block joints in classrooms and caulk the exterior fire box and speaker covers. She toothed out a section of block that had been under testing for leaks.<\/p>\n

Jordan also worked on Rosemont Elementary School, cutting out mortar and cracked joints around the lintels for repair. Jordan helped set up, mixed mortar and tuckpointed some of the crack joints. And Jordan worked on North Landing Elementary School, where Jordan assisted setting up scaffolding \u00a0and made brick repairs.<\/p>\n

This is the first time a larger group of Tech Center students have worked for Maintenance Services, although one or two students have done so in the past. Organizers hope the program will grow next summer. All Tech Center students build a professional portfolio to help them find work, but the students in the summer program immediately put those resumes to work. They interviewed for their jobs and were asked the same questions as adult job candidates, said Michael Drewry, special projects coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed the extra help,\u201d Drewry said about the relationship between Maintenance Services and the Tech Center. \u201cIn turn, they have quality students here.\u201d<\/p>\n

David Swanger, director of the Tech Center, said the summer program gives students a wonderful opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students need the experience of working in the real world, side by side with professionals,\u201d Swanger said. \u201cThe program is a wonderful opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Trey Stevens, a Landstown junior who participated in the summer program, said it was valuable to learn how to use sophisticated equipment while working in the division\u2019s carpentry shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely enjoyed it,\u201d Stevens said.<\/p>\n

Reggie Robinson, a junior at Bayside, said working on school projects helped him develop his electrical skills.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can now fix some things at home,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Jordan would like to be an architect and may attend Tidewater Community College for two years before transferring to a four-year university.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing masonry work helps me, because I know the inside details of being an architect,\u201d she said. \u201cIf I design a house or school, I\u2019ll know the masonry work behind the architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a woman in the building trades may be a challenge, as there aren\u2019t as many role models, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have to prove that my work is just as good as anyone else\u2019s,\u201d she said. Fortunately, the Tech Center takes pride in fostering a diverse and supportive environment for all students, Swanger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery child in this building is supportive of their peers,\u201d Swanger said. \u201cThe person working next to them is their teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students developed their carpentry, masonry, electrical and plumbing skills by making repairs with seasoned professionals inside Virginia Beach school buildings this past summer. Jordan Pearson-Crawford, a Bayside High senior who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11543"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11550,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11543\/revisions\/11550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}