Getting In On The Ground Floor

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

"That's the heavy equipment I want to operate," said Joyce Boone enthusiastically, pointing at a bulldozer at work on the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters site on St. Elizabeth’s West Campus in southeast Washington, D.C. Boone was one of a dozen GSA Building Futures Project students on a field trip last Friday to the construction project involving a designated historic landmark in the District’s Anacostia neighborhood. "I would rather do some mechanical work inside that building on the right," said another student to Ronnie Strompft, General Superintendent from Clark Construction Group, which conducted the tour. "We take pride in the impact our program has on people searching for a career in the building trades," noted Kathleen McKirchy, Executive Director for the Community Services Agency, which administers the Building Futures Project. "Our students are ready to meet and market themselves to major employers and union apprenticeship programs in the metro area." The Building Futures program provides pre-apprenticeship training classes for those interested in careers in construction, along with placement assistance into registered union apprenticeship programs and jobs in the industry. - photo (l-r): Kathleen McKirchy, CSA Executive Director; Tom Kenton, Project Manager and Ronnie Strompft, General Superintendent from Clark Construction Group, LLC; Tony Johnson, Site Coordinator and students. Photo by Sylvia Casaro Dietert