Besides the usual reading, writing and ‘rithmetic of old school curricula, DMPS students are afforded learning opportunities in an ever-widening range of disciplines nowadays. Monday and Tuesday offered a couple of off-campus cases in point.
On Monday, a contingent from the Central Campus Skilled Trades Academy headed north to the Ankeny campus of Des Moines Area Community College for DMACC’s Girls in Construction Day event.
On Tuesday, another batch from McCombs and Brody Middle School(s) and Lincoln High went south to Indianola for the 4-H RISE College Access Conference under the joint auspices of Simpson College and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
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Last summer we reported on a special camp at Central Campus aimed at attracting young women into the skilled trades curriculum.
Monday’s event at DMACC was an opportunity for a winter update.
There were only 30 spots available and half of them were filled by DMPS students who signed up to participate under the guidance of Central Campus carpentry instructor Barry Molloy.
“This day-long presentation was sponsored by National Association of Women in Construction,” Molloy said. “It was very helpful for the girls in our classes to see, meet and hear from women with careers in the construction world. NAWIC members joined the girls on the tour of DMACC programs and added great detail to each of the career course descriptions. It was a wonderful example of the power of professional networking.”
During the morning, students visited the Altoona job site where tech giant Facebook is in the midst of a $1.5 billion expansion of its data facility there. After lunch back at the DMACC campus, they toured the school’s Building Trades, Electrical Construction, Pre-Engineering, Architectural Technologies, Civil Engineering Technologies, and HVAC programs.
According to Molloy, there is a slow but steady increase in female enrollments in the skilled trades areas at Central Campus.
“There’s no more push back from classmates or parents,” he said. “Contractors have found female workers achieve a higher rate of success. The shortage of skilled labor is so acute that with 2-4 years of formal and on-the-job training, a person can start at $35-$65,000 a year. And the opportunity to start your own business is tremendous. These days it is surprising to visit a construction site and not see at least one female on the crew.”
And counting. Central Campus, DMACC and NAWIC are betting on it.
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A diverse, urban district like DMPS might seem an unlikely spot for an organization like 4-H to thrive, but it’s not. Out of six million 4-H participants nationwide, less than half are in rural areas. The rest come from urban and suburban communities. The mission isn’t raising livestock and crops, it’s about raising healthy kids.
Last year the first Polk County RISE conference was held at Grand View University in Des Moines and introduced 4-H to underrepresented youth from four DMPS schools: Harding and Hiatt Middle Schools; East and North High Schools.
The conference in Indianola on Tuesday had room for 72 students, half of whom came from Polk County and most of those are DMPS students.
They spent the day in activities that included teambuilding/leadership exercises and college/career exploration workshops aimed particularly at potential first-generation college students.
The relationship between 4-H and DMPS is growing right along with the kids they have in common.
