Over the last year, a group of hard-working students from the Electrical, Carpentry and Building Construction Technology trades at the Alaska Job Corps Center in Palmer united as a team to complete a 6000 square foot remodel of the Bureau of Land Management Campbell Tract Facility in Anchorage, Alaska. This is the largest, and longest, project Alaska Job Corps students have completed with BLM since the Alaska Job Corps/BLM partnership began in 2009.

Each morning the students boarded buses in the morning in Palmer and rode to Anchorage where they worked until the late afternoon or early evening. They laid concrete slab. They built 32 offices, some of which were modular spaces. They sheet-rocked, painted and textured walls. They cleaned up old electrical wiring and installed new breaker boxes. They laid new carpeting and vinyl flooring. They installed doors and built metal stud walls.

“It was impressive to see how much pride the students took in their work,” said Alan Lorimer, BLM Alaska State Office Property and Facilities Manager. “Their work was as good as any professional and the instructors took the time to show students the correct way of doing things right the first time.”

He also added that when professional electricians visited the facility after the students had installed the wiring they said some of the wiring was the best they had ever seen.

Ben Kainer, Electrical trade instructor at the Alaska Job Corps Center is very proud of his students. He says they were doing journeyman level work and that they did an excellent job.

“Work-based learning projects like these are really key to our students’ success,” said Malyn Smith, Alaska Job Corps Center Director. “They help students develop hands-on skills as well as build relationships with potential employers in the community—all of which will help them find a career and open up opportunities for both federal and state jobs.”

Students like Aaron Kulhanek (Building Construction Technology) truly benefitted this project. He says that he got to do work he had never done before, and learn about commercial building and construction. He says he feels like it really improved his career skills to better help him find a job.

This is not the first time Alaska Job Corps students have done work-based learning projects at BLM, and according to Lorimer at BLM, it will not be the last. He is looking forward to more work with the excellent Alaska Job Corps team in the future.

The Alaska Job Corps Center is a federally funded career training program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and managed by Chugach Educational Services, Inc. The Center is committed to providing the highest quality programs for young adults by offering instructions in academics, trades and life skills through innovative methods that respond to the unique individual and group needs of today’s youth.