The Construction Career Collaborative Educational Advisory Committee kicked off in July when committee chair, Hilary Martin of ISEC, and I met to create a vision and begin to identify and recruit charter members. At our first full committee meeting, it was clear that there was a passion and energy for getting construction careers in front of students, parents and educators. The mission of the committee is to provide career exploration and preparation programming that is high-touch and high-visibility about careers in construction to a pipeline of talent that might not otherwise ever know our industry exists. This mission will guide the work of the committee that is comprised of volunteers from companies such as Tellepsen Builders, Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, ISEC, Trio Electric, FM Solutions and Karsten Interior Services.
Straight out of the gate, the committee has begun to gather requests from partnering school districts like Alief, Aldine, Spring Branch, and Houston to see what immediate needs for curriculum and instruction support might exist for career and technical educators due to the impact of COVID-19. As we gather these needs and requests, we will be communicating them to the C3 community at large to assist in supporting our programs in schools during this time. Additionally, we will be meeting today, August 11, at 3pm via Zoom to discuss next steps toward creating subcommittees. Our subcommittees will be working on career fairs, speaker materials for virtual and in-person career days and long-term strategies for more trade exploration events similar to the 2019 WECan event that was held last October at Aldine ISD.
We are just beginning to dip our toes into the waters of what this group can do and look forward to collaborating with a variety of school districts and post-secondary organizations as we move forward. If you have a staff member or leader who is passionate about making sure our industry is represented to students, parents and educators as a viable career opportunity, please reach out to me and get involved with the C3 Educational Advisory Committee.
