It comes as no shock to the average person that a ripple effect of recent technological advances and the growth of the Internet economy has been a tectonic shift in the labor force. The number of jobs that require sitting behind a desk in a cubicle – or anywhere a computer might be – has risen dramatically over the past 20 years. This shift has transformed our educational system into one that funnels students towards a different set of opportunities. While some of those opportunities offer new and exciting prospects for our economy, the trend has accelerated at the cost of marginalizing vocational and skills-based training – especially in the construction trades.
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After growing up in Washington State and working construction for most of his life, Joel Tellez wound up in Smyrna, where he became a superintendent for Olympian Construction. One day, he was sitting in the pickup line at Thurman Francis Arts Academy in his work truck when Dow Smith—who also had kids at the school—came over and struck up a conversation. A few months later, Joel was working at DSC. Last week, he celebrated 20 years with the company.