Report of the MCAA Training Committee

High School Campaign
In April we launched our anticipated High School Campaign, by directly mailing 17,000 guidance counselors in every high school in the nation and advertising our program in 'School Counselor' magazine's email newsletter. Through the mailing, counselors received a brochure highlighting careers in masonry and offering a free career kit to their school, available if they returned the attached reply card.

Based on this initiative, we have received over 1,100 requests, representing schools in every state, and more are coming in each day. The requests also allowed us to obtain over 1,000 contact names and 700 email addresses.

These schools are now awaiting their career kits, promised to be shipped at the beginning of this school year. This is just the start of our High School Campaign. In the months and years to come, we will be conducting career day presentations at these schools (per request of the counselors), establishing masonry pre-apprenticeship programs where none are available (with the help of SkillsUSA-VICA) and undertaking a general marketing and education campaign to both students and administrators (through ideas still being developed but may include cd-roms, building contests, and promotional materials).

To finance this massive endeavor, we embarked on a sponsorship drive, in which companies sponsor high schools for the duration of the campaign for $200 each. Melissa Polivka contacted some of our key members in each state to ask for recommendations of their best suppliers to solicit for donations. We wanted to know who they would call if in this position. We received over 300 company and organization contacts.

Over the past few months, Melissa has been mailing and calling these companies to pitch our program and to ask for their support. The promotion has been well received, both for its professional presentation and for the nature of our efforts. We are well on our way to achieving full sponsorship of the 1,100 schools in need. Last week, Melissa reported back to our members regarding the response she got from their recommended contacts.

We will continue to ask for donations and contact new potential sponsors until we have all of these schools covered. Our next step will be to send a new nailing to the remainder of schools that did not respond, and gain their participation as well.

Career Kit Revisions
The "Check Out a Career in Masonry" career kit MCAA has produced and sold for many years was targeted for the contractor's use in a career day situation. It contained sample letters, discussion topics and tips for presenting the information in person. Although excellent to guide an industry expert through a career day scenario, the kit was not useful as a stand alone marketing item for high school students.

For distribution through our Campaign, the materials needed to be revised for the students' and guidance counselors' in an up-to-date, engaging, and informative manner. Every element of the career kit has thus been revised, aside from the general design.

• The video has been livened up, with more contemporary music, quicker interview clips and scene transitions. The script was also completely rewritten with more relevant information, and re-recorded.
• There are new materials for the guidance counselors' use that include a reorder form to replenish the materials within their kit and a career day request form, which they can return via fax or mail.
• There are also new interactive materials for the students: a career assessment test so they can self-determine their interest and abilities in a career in masonry and a checklist to guide them through researching and getting started in this industry.
• The student brochures and back cover panel have been rewritten to contain exciting information meant to catch the students' interests.
• New parent brochures have been added to the kits for the students to introduce their parents to their career direction of choice.
• MCAA headquarters' new contact information has been updated on the poster and our web site address has been added.

Online Masonry Career Training Database
To provide a resource for those who come to our website as directed by the revised career kits, we are putting the final touches on an online database for students to search for their closest masonry training program. This database will be accessible from the masoncontractors.com website, and will allow visitors to search by state and review detailed information about the registered training programs, including curriculum materials, enrollment dates, and graduation requirements.

Each program will be required to conduct a release interview in order to have their information featured, and no program will be included unless it is BAT registered or SAC certified. Programs will also be asked to register with our database exclusively, so that we may become the definitive resource for training program information.

International Masonry Skills Challenge
Although the fourth annual Masonry Skills Challenge in Tampa was a great success, afterward we reviewed the contest's proceedings, and implemented a number of changes. Our goals were to improve the competitors' performances and experiences, give the deserved recognition and attention to the contestants' hard work, and highlight the skills of the best apprentices our industry has to offer. The fifth annual Challenge in Las Vegas will be a showcase of talent and a "must-see" event.

• There will be no day-long event prior to the contest for the apprentices. The only mandatory event will be dinner and orientation the night before. This means that contestants can arrive the day before the contest and save a night of hotel costs, not be concerned about losing points, and be fresh and rested for the competition.
• The contest will occur on Tuesday, March 23- the opening day of the Masonry Showcase. With the contest on this day, the apprentices will enjoy a bigger audience to cheer them on and admire their work, a more exciting atmosphere, and greater interest in the winner's presentation- which will take place while the Showcase floor is open.
• The Fastest Trowel Competition will occur on Wednesday, March 24. Having the Skills Challenge separate from this contest will concentrate excitement and interest on the apprentices, and allow them to attend or tender the Fastest Trowel event without being distracted by their own upcoming competition.

We plan to promote and grow this event for the launch of our partnership with CSI and the Construct America show in 2005, to demonstrate to architects and specifiers the talented future of our industry. A sub-committee has been constructed to address and produce this growth, consisting of representatives from MCAA, the Canadian Masonry Contractors Association, Spec-Mix, and the Masonry Industry Training Association.

SkillsUSA-VICA
MCAA continues to participate in the SkiI1sUSA-VICA Masonry Technical Committee, led by a new chairman, Brian Light of the Southern Brick Institute. In June, we assisted in conducting the championship competition in Kansas City and provided local members as judges. Thanks to all who donated their time and energy for that long day!

This committee's budget administration will be conducted by the Masonry Industry Council starting late this year. Although it will not technically be a sub-committee of MIT, this administration will provide for better accountability and standards within committee procedures.

We continue to intend to grow the presence of Skills-USA VICA masonry preapprenticeship programs. Our initial focus is on the schools that replied to our High School Campaign and we will work with Skills-USA to establish programs in these schools where masonry is not offered.