Last October, OCP Contractors partnered with the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) and Build Your Future organization (BYF) to support Careers in Construction Month. By pledging to promote and celebrate careers in construction, OCP was entered into a prize drawing to award a $5,000 scholarship to a deserving school of their choice.
In mid-November, the NCCER and BYF announced the winning companies and the scholarship recipients. Out of 151 organizations from 46 states who supported this campaign, OCP was one of three to be chosen. Chris Gunderman, OCP Superintendent, and Penta Alumnus, naturally selected Penta Career Center’s Carpentry Program to receive this scholarship.
"Penta Career Center is a local vocational school that brings students from many schools in our area together to learn their trade of choice. The staff at Penta are more than just teachers; they work with the kids to get them placed with contractors. They truly take an interest in their future, which in turn contributes to ours," shared Chris Gunderman.
Chris Gunderman collaborated along with Ashly Cassady, OCP Administrative Assistant, on the pledge, and they presented the check to Penta’s Carpentry program at a board meeting on Dec. 9th.
Over the next five years, the scholarship will be utilized to assist ten deserving students who are pursuing a career in carpentry. “We are beyond grateful to be afforded this opportunity to not only give back to Penta, but to our future tradesmen and women, and ultimately, our future leaders in construction,” Ashly Cassady added.
About NCCER — NCCER is a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) education foundation created by the construction industry to develop standardized curriculum and assessments with portable credentials and certifications to help develop skilled craft professionals. NCCER provides a comprehensive workforce development system that includes training, assessment, certification, and career development solutions for the construction and maintenance industries. For more information, visit www.nccer.org or contact NCCER customer service at 888.622.3720.
About Build Your Future – Build Your Future (BYF) is NCCER’s national image enhancement and recruitment initiative for the construction industry. Its mission is to recruit the next generation of craft professionals by making career and technical education a priority in secondary schools, shifting negative public perception about careers in the construction industry, and providing a path from ambition, to training, to job placement as a craft professional. BYF provides a number of resources to assist the industry, education, and military organizations in achieving these goals, including a parent and educator, focused website: discover.byf.org. For more information, visit www.byf.org.