MCAA Region A Skills Challenge results
Winners are invited to compete in Las Vegas
By Joyce Greer
The Region A Masonry Skills Challenge was once again, through the generous efforts of Betco/Supreme, in Gainesville, VA, held on Saturday October 15th. Don Windle, Rocky at the plant set up materials and stations as well as a tent for the luncheon after the competition.
We had a beautiful day, temperatures cool and breezy but perfect for the 15 apprentice bricklayers to show off their skills. Karon masonry provided a mixer and helpers to handle it for the contestants.
We were also very fortunate to have sponsorships for a few of the apprentices. We “Thank” Lou Cocks, Jr. of Masonry Design, Inc., Joe Knott III of Henry J. Knott Masonry, and PMA in Frederick, MD, for their generous donations to allow these young men to compete.
We are very grateful to the many companies who donated items for each of the apprentices. John Bongiovanni from Bon Tool, sent tool bags with items for each student, also a “Cadillac” bag we gave away as a door prize filled with tools and items. Brian Carney of Spec-Mix sent us “Mudslinger” tee shirts and gloves for each contestant. Brian Trimble and Chip Clark of BIA sent us a box of tee shirts and mini bricks for distribution. Dawn Myers of Preferred Insurance donated two lower level Capitals Hockey tickets that we gave as a door prize. Our friend Don Smith returned to help judge and brought with him from Craftsman Tools, trowels, lines and twigs for each of the tool bags. Jerry Combs of Mortar Net sent us their latest snazzy caps with their logo and the metal tips on the brim like tool boxes have. They were a big hit! Quikrete Companies once again provided the mortar and Silo for the day’s operations.
A fabulous lunch was provided from the Honey Baked Ham store and was sponsored by Betco/Supreme, Karon Masonry and PMA. They really had a nice variety and no one went away hungry.
The judges were Kent Deeben, Deeben Enterprises, Mike Simon, east Coast Industrial Supply, Don Smith, L. C. Smith and Curtis Hoover of CAT-N. These gentlemen gave up a day of golf, a day of hunting and a day with their families to support this workforce initiative.
In these rough times the fact that folks were still so generous with their materials, products, and time means so much to those young guys pursuing a career in the masonry trade.
The winners were as follows: Keep in mind, first place for each year paid $500. Second place $250. And third place $100.
Scott Bryan of Karon Masonry and Matt were by their guys sides cheering them on. They had 11 apprentices and as usual support a string workforce development for the future of our industry. We appreciate all the efforts put forth to make this event happen. Mark Muldowney of Betco/Supreme certainly deserves our gratitude for providing the facility, materials, tent and lunch and even his time to check on us and make sure we had everything we needed in between coaching his daughter’s soccer game. Don Windle and Rocky made sure we did not want for anything either.
All in all we had a great day! Hope to see more of our contractor’s and students out again next year. We will definitely need the skilled craftsman for the future.
About the Author
Joyce Greer is the Executive Director of the Masonry Institute of Virginia.
