South Beloit students drafting grand designs for their future at CareerTek
Representatives from Angus Young and Rock Road Companies highlight possible career paths in the trades.
Students from South Beloit Jr. High and High School visited Hendrick's Careertek at Beloit's Irontek campus on September 11 to explore potential careers in the trades. Today's focus was specifically on architectural and landscape design with Angus Young, as well as road, utility, and foundation projects with Rock Road Companies, both based in Janesville.
This is only one of many activities that the South Beloit school's college and career center, headed by Emily Roer, offers to students. These students will also conduct a site visit to the new Ho-Chunk casino worksite in Beloit to see firsthand work in the trades.
Rebekah Wallace, an architectural designer with Angus Young Associates in Janesville, described the steps to becoming a licensed architect. She explained that the profession is built around the “three Es”—education, experience, and exams—or, alternatively, seven years of work under a licensed architect. Illinois, unlike Wisconsin, also enjoys reciprocity with a number of states, making it easier for architects to practice across borders.
Kelly Bosen of CareerTek noted that CareerTek offers training on tools, like SolidWorks, a computer aided design program, for free to students in their program, lowering barriers for students. Self-paced programming according to Solidworks website is available for $1,995.
Growing up in a small town, Wallace admitted she wasn’t always aware of the opportunities in architecture. “I wish I would have known earlier,” she said, emphasizing the importance of shining a light on career paths for young people.
Meanwhile, representatives from Rock Road Companies, including Josh Biddick, with eight years at the firm, and Tiffany Adleman, with four, highlighted the scope of local construction projects to the Jr. High students and fielded their questions on how their future careers can shape the outlook of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin.
Biddick's local anecdotes from safety on the jobsite to sheer size of projects caught the group's attention. He gave an example that students are well aware of, the bridge/exit interchange in Janesville for Exits 171A-C.
"Home Depot? Cracker Barrel? Target? You ALL know where Target is," said Biddick. He asked the students to estimate the cost.
"37 million? 50 million? 75 million?" guessed the students. One of them demonstrating his superb Price is Right skills.
"Over 100 million," shared Biddick.
Biddick and Adleman stressed how important it is for students to learn how to accept making mistakes while cultivating the ability to address them quickly.
"Let's not try to make one mistake into two mistakes," said Biddick.
Both Wallace and Rock Road representatives encouraged students to explore these industries, where strong skills, careful work, and being trainable are always in demand.
