Massachusetts Construction Career Day (CCD) is an exciting, hands-on opportunity for students to learn about and experience first-hand the wide range of careers available in the construction industry. In the past three years over 200 students from the Attleboro Area School-to-Career Partnership school districts have traveled to the New England Laborers Training Academy in Hopkinton, MA, to take advantage of this program.

Students learn how to use highway paving equipment, backhoes, cranes, jackhammers and excavators under the supervision of trained operators. They can design a building, a tunnel or bridge on computer-aided drafting equipment and have their structures assessed for stability by professional engineers. The students participate in demonstrations of brick laying, cement finishing, welding, carpentry, steel cutting and other trades. They also use a “total robotic station” to experiment with cutting-edge surveying equipment.

The students attending the program are enthusiastic and involved. Career Specialist Ellen Pillsbury said that already students are requesting to attend the event in May 2007.

Construction Career Day is the cooperative effort of the Federal Highway Administration, The Engineer Center Association, Massachusetts Highway Department, New England Laborers Training Academy, Massachusetts Aggregate and Asphalt Pavement Association, Massachusetts Concrete and Aggregate Producers Association, The Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE, The Massachusetts Association of Land Surveyors and Civil Engineers, Construction Industries of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts Department of Education.