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Our Construction Camp begins Monday! We'll be working with 18 middle school students - six veterans of Construction Club from Midway Elementary and Quebec Heights, and 12 new recruits from Resurrection and St. Lawrence schools - to build a playhouse. Each student has their own hand tools, safety gear, and hot weather survival tools (sunscreen and water bottles!) There's a sneak preview of the elevation attached - check it out!

Camp will be held at Resurrection School, 1740 Iliff Avenue in Price Hill from 12 noon - 4 p.m., Monday - Thursday, June 6 - 23rd. On Thursday afternoon, June 23rd, we'll have a community event designed to show off the hard work of our students and the volunteer companies from Associated Builders and Contractors who will teach the students their trades. We'll keep you posted on our progress, and hope to see you there. In fact, feel free to stop by any time while camp is in session to watch our work - after all, your support makes it possible!

Thanks again to ABC, the Spirit of Construction Foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and Tech Prep for their generous financial support.

Let's get these kids to work!

See you soon,

Anne L. Mitchell, APR

Construction Industry Advocate

It's hard to believe that we're halfway through Construction Camp! The campers installed three windows and the backdoor on the playhouse yesterday, after all the hard work framing and panelling the roof and the dormer. They're learning so much about the importance of exact measurements, clear communication, precise subtraction and addition, safety - and friendship! Students from all four schools are getting along so well, working together and playing together like real friends. I have to mention, too, that they have been very respectful to all the contractors - I hope they listen this closely to their teachers during the school year!

Today's the first day that we've got a real threat of rain, and we're hoping to get the roof finished before it arrives. Keep your fingers crossed! And thanks again to all of you for your ongoing support. We had wonderful news yesterday that Forge Lumber is making a $500 lumber donation, and of course Associated Builders and Contractors and their member companies have all been so generous with their time and materials. Thanks to the Spirit of Construction Foundation, the SWORWIB, Tech Prep and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and a special thanks to Kevin Murray of Cincinnati Building and Contracting Specialties for taking us under his wing.

Stop by 1711 Iliff Avenue in Price Hill to see our progress, 12 - 4:00, Monday - Thursday!

Gratefully,

Anne L. Mitchell, APR

Construction Industry Advocate

Time has flown by and it's almost the end of Construction Camp! These students have learned and achieved so much. Good work habits, like being on time and prepared with tools and safety equipment; specialized skills like using a power saw and drill, installing windows, and wiring light fixtures, reinforcement of their academic skills - like yesterday when a carpenter told them, "If you're good at math, you can be a great carpenter, because math is the one thing I use on the job every day."

They've also had to learn a little bit of construction reality - that rain can delay your project! But we're still aiming for completion by Thursday, and we hope you will come and celebrate with us then. We'll wrap up camp with an "Open House" from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. this Thursday, June 23 for all of our friends, families, and supporters.

Thanks again to the Spirit of Construction Foundation, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Associated Builders and Contractors, Ressurrection School, and everyone who has made this wonderful experience possible.

Construction Camp Open House Celebration

Thursday, June 23

2 p.m. - 4 p.m.

1749 Iliff Ave, Price Hill 45205

See you soon,

Anne L. Mitchell, APR

Construction Industry Advocate

Construction Camp wrapped up last Thursday, and on Friday the playhouse was trucked to the shop at United Group Services to have the finishing touches applied before it will be auctioned at the Spirit of Construction Gala in October. We hope to repeat the camp next year.

Why? Listen to what the students had to say about what they learned at camp:

It is very fun to build stuff
It is the best thing I ever done.
How to read a tape measure better.
I’m smart.
I can do more than I think.
I can do more than I knew.
I am pretty good with a hammer.
Some thing are hard and some are easy.
To be accepting of other people I have to work with.
How to build a house out of scratch.

Those statements touch on every goal that the program was designed to meet. When we asked the students prior to camp if they could find 4 and 5/8ths inches on a tape measure, 12 of the campers could. After camp, 17 could - all but one. And after camp, the number of campers who could imagine going into a job in construction had increased by 25 percent - even though 10 children had answered that question positively before camp even began.

The campers' parents said "This experience has built up (his) confidence and esteem." "Experienced builders who volunteered their time and energy to teach our children a skill was probably the biggest thing that impressed me." And every parent said that their pre-teens talked and shared what they had learned - yes, I said pre-teens!

We had 9 campers with perfect attendance, and three others who missed just one day, The students made new friends - two students from St. Lawrence school have invited a student from Midway to join their Boy Scout troop.

None of this would be possible without the support of Dan Freese and United Group Services, Associated Builders and Contractors and their member companies, Ohio Valley Electric, HGC, Diversified Facilities Solutions, the Spirit of Construction Foundation, the SWORWIB, Tech Prep, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation Summer Kids, Forge Lumber, Kevin Murray of Cincinnati Building and Contracting Specialties, and Resurrection School. Thanks to all of you who came to our celebration, and those who provided moral support, tools, dropcloths, and Gorilla Glue - namely my husband, David.

I'm lucky to have had the opportunity to help these students learn and achieve.

With gratitude,

Anne L. Mitchell, APR

Construction Industry Advocate