Construction trades program at Ben Davis HS prepares teens for careers

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The number of high school students choosing construction as a career is dropping.

One program for high schoolers in Indianapolis is working to reverse that trend with hands-on experience.

The career trades program organized through Ben Davis High School has been around for years.

Usually the construction students build a house, but this year is a little different.

The high school students have been working all school year building a classroom for another one of the career trade programs.

Not only are the students learning, but their work will continue to live on in school history.

Erick Poritillo is a senior at Ben Davis High School and a future Ball State architecture student.

But on this Friday afternoon, he’s a painter.

“We paint, we do masonry, we do concrete,” he said.

He and other high school students from Indy’s west side are enrolled in the Area 31 trades program through the Wayne Township district.

“I think what I learned here in construction will help me a lot in the architecture program,” Poritillo said.

They’re getting hands-on experience building a classroom for future fire science students.

“Kids that are going to be firemen and emergency technicians, they’re going to be trained in this classroom,” Building Trades Instructor Doug Sisk said.

Sisk said this program is great for the students because they get to try out a trade before committing to a job.

“If they jumped out of high school and went to work for a painter and tried to learn, they may waste a long period of time finding out they don’t want to do that the rest of their life,” he said.

The teens get both high school and college credit while they work on the year-long project.

For Junior Tyler Seibers, this program is solidifying his love for construction.

“When I come out of this program I can either go to my own company or construction management college,” he said.

Even though he’s worked on building projects in the past, during this program he’s been able to try every aspect of the field.

He’s even found a new interest.

“Masonry was the big one, which is laying brick,” he said, “I didn’t know that I’d get into that when I got here, but it’s probably my favorite thing to do.”

That is one of many success stories Sisk has heard throughout the years.

He loves to teach these students because he’s able to see them apply their education and be successful graduates.

“Some of them get really good at it so they go right straight to work,” he said.

The Area 31 career trades program offers 40 different hands-on classes for high school students.

Though it’s based in Wayne Township, students from other schools nearby are welcome to take part.

Contact Wayne Township schools for more information.