Students from the Parkland College Highway Construction Careers Training Program (HCCTP) toured the home of F&S crafts and trades, the Physical Plant Services Building (PPSB). There, they visited and interacted with forepersons and supervisors with many shops: laborers, pipe trades, sheet metal, carpenters, painters, ironworkers, elevator mechanics, electricians, and operator-engineers.

Greg Moen, supervisor of building craftspersons, led the tour, offering key advice and words of wisdom, noting that the field is made to be easy to get into, but only hard work and positive relationships will allow the chance for a successful career. Each shop noted what testing is like, what skills are needed, and how ‘soft’ skills like a handshake, eye contact, and confidence are valued.

“If you work hard at getting a job, you will be successful,” Moen told the group while visiting the construction-laborers shop. “You can’t just apply one place and say ‘Oh, they didn’t call me back’ and hold your head down. You’ve got to work at it just like how you work at school.”

Ironworkers foreperson Todd Hawkins went out of his way to answer questions and offer his contact information, or that of others who could help aspiring students. He informed the students of the proud history of ironworkers, highlighted by a famous photo from when skyscrapers were first built—this would not hit today’s safety standards, of course, but does show the fearlessness of generations of ironworkers.

Terry Bagwell, plumbers foreperson, keyed in on perseverance: “Don’t give up.”

Moen, an electrician, told the Parkland students about how technology has really changed that field more than most: “The industry is taking off with ‘green’ technologies: solar farms, wind mills, EV cars. Our industry is growing like crazy. In your lifetimes, you might see more car-charging stations than gas stations. It’s coming and you can make money off it. It’s a big deal in the industry to go ‘net zero’ and change how you build buildings.”

Robert “Rube” King, construction laborer foreperson and Bradley Eichelberger, construction laborer sub-foreperson talked about how his colleagues are on-site early preparing sites and often the entire way through a project. They detailed a few tools, a few of which are now electric, allowing for more use inside.

Sign shop veteran Derek “Dubie” Dubson detailed how the shop makes decals, signs, stickers, and other printed materials. Printing technology has changed vastly, with work done by hand accounting for most of their work years ago – now, powerful printing machines do it all.

Eric Hasselbring, carpenters sub-foreperson, shared that he appreciates working at F&S where he may not know exactly what he’ll do each day, making his work experience more enjoyable.

Moen detailed three things he tells young people getting into the crafts and trades: “There’s three basic rules to anyone who comes in: Be safe. Be nice. Do your job.”

Working at Illinois

Moen noted his enjoyment working and expanding his knowledge, achieving his bachelor’s degree later in life.

“What I like about working here is doing neat stuff,” Moen said of working at F&S. “You work on different things. There’s a lot of cool people here. A really good place to work.”

Moen recounted how he knew and worked for Nick Holonyak Jr., Illinois alumnus and the father of the LED.

“The University of Illinois has been here 150 years, and will be here another 150. It’s valuable to work here.”