Borger High students learn about construction during "BUILT-2-BOOM" event
The first-ever “BUILT-2-BOOM” Construction Day afforded students at Borger High School an up-close look at the current climate of the industry. (Drew Powell/KVII)
BORGER, Texas (KVII) — The first-ever “BUILT-2-BOOM” Construction Day afforded students at Borger High School an up-close look at the current climate of the industry.
Borger INC. put together a field trip where interested students can see opportunities for the future. It’s one way the city can build more housing by increasing the local workforce in the construction industry.
“One of the things we're finding is that there is not a one size fits all plan for kids,” said Amy Fesser, executive director of Borger INC. “We have to go where their interests are.”
One of the interests is construction. Students from Borger High School’s Construction class toured the city looking at sites where new housing may come in or where old housing can turn into new housing opportunities.
“The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics tells us that just in the Panhandle over the next ten years, our need for them is going to increase 20% to 35%,” said Fesser.
“Borger is growing I guess its booming as you can say and we just do need a lot of housing in the fact that we have people here like Amy Fesser and they're helping the community a lot,” said Maria De La Fuente, a student at Borger High School.
Currently, there is a demand for more construction and trade workers. Fesser tells ABC 7 News construction means you can own your own company. You can build custom homes or residential homes which is why folks who work in the industry met with students to explain how to enter the field and more importantly the economic benefits of staying in the industry.
“What really interested me in the construction industry is that it’s always a growing industry and there’s never not going to be a need for it,” said Lincoln Honaker, a student at Borger High School.
“Our biggest challenge is always housing because we are one of the main employers especially Hutchinson County and surrounding areas,” said Fesser. “We don’t have enough housing. Our oldest house is somewhere in the nineties in the median range so we need to update our housing so we are currently working on subdivisions for housing.”
Of the 46 students who participated in the inaugural BUILT2BOOM around half are male and half are female, that’s a good sign going forward.
Borger INC. is hoping to turn this into an annual event.
