The Heavy Metal Summer camp is a game-changer for raising youth awareness of the trades
By Jessica Kirby + Natalie Bruckner • Photos courtesy of Western Allied Mechanical
We know two things: the construction industry is experiencing a labour shortage and college isn’t for everyone. In 2021, two American SMACNA contractors—Western Allied Mechanical in the Bay Area of California and Hermanson in Seattle—decided to turn these facts into recruitment results.
That year, they designed and piloted Heavy Metal Summer Experience (HMSE)—a six-week summer program aimed at building interest in the trades among young people. The goal was simple: introduce youth between the ages of 15 and 19, as well as their parents, to trade opportunities in sheet metal and other, complementary trades in a hands-on, project focused summer camp for recent or soon-to-be graduates. The pilot program drew 28 participants between two camps (one in each locale), and the organizers thought that was a pretty good turnout.
Until 2022 rolled around. Thanks to generous accolades from SMACNA, SMART, trade magazines, and word of mouth, the second summer saw 11 camps host 180 kids. HMSE co-founder and former SMACNA National president Angie Simon was floored.
“I have to admit, we were pretty overwhelmed by the response,” she says.
This past summer, HMSE hosted 22 camps—including Canada’s first, in Lancaster, Ontario—bringing information about a career in trades to nearly 400 students.
“It is so needed,” Simon says. “We are reaching out to kids who are about to graduate, and parents are starting to reimagine what their kids’ future might look like. We’ve had so many interested parties over the last three years, I am anticipating close to 50 camps with at least five or six in Canada for the summer of 2024.”
The idea was born from a conversation Simon had with her partner, who has four boys—one of which took a shine to a welding class he had at art school. He ended up taking welding lessons and was great at it.
“That got me thinking,” Simon says. “There are so many kids out there where college is not their thing. We should show them what a great opportunity this is. So, we talked about how awesome a sheet metal camp would be.”
The wheels were set in motion. The partners at Western Allied approved Simon’s budget of $30,000 to run the camp. But as with any successful venture, it takes a village, and people were quick to come onboard.
After hearing about the idea during a SMACNA Annual Convention roundtable discussion on workforce development, Jana Burbank from Hermanson Company and Julie Muller, executive vice president of SMACNA Western-Washington, asked if they could get involved.
“We created a committee with Western Allied Mechanical, SMACNA-Western Washington, SMACNA National, Construction for Change, and ourselves,” Burbank says. “Together, we fleshed out the details.”
Soon, the Western Washington Local 66 JATC was on board and things really took off. They teamed up with a community group and high schools to recruit participants and wrangled tool kits and a cash donation from a tool supplier and a local developer.
HMSE continues to gain traction. Milwaukee and DeWalt have donated tool kits and PPE to some camps, contractors and Locals are donating time and space, and community groups and high schools are promoting the camps to their students.
Each time a camp is held, feedback, new ideas, and lessons learned are implemented into the HMSE Playbook, a 125-page living manual that contains sample schedules and budgets, ways to organize the camps, project ideas, partnership suggestions, pro tips, and pitfalls to avoid. Contractors and JATCs can follow it to the letter or use it as a loose outline.
Over the next five years, 40% of the construction workforce will etire. This, on the heels of a record-breaking labor shortage, has contractors in all areas of construction wondering how they are going to get their jobs done. HMSE is one answer.
“We had a mother come up to us at a graduation to thank us,” Simon says. “Her daughter had entered a very dark space, lost and unsure of her future. But, after doing the camp, the mother said she has her daughter back again. If we can save one kid every year and get them into a career that gives them a new life, it’s worth it.”
Learn more about hosting a Heavy Metal Summer Experience at HMSE.org ■
