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June 3, 2024
OSHKOSH – The Construction Management Technology (CMT) program at Fox Valley Technical College (FVTC) got a lot more interesting for students this semester – and Richard Cass, department chair of the CMT program at FVTC, said it’s just the beginning.
Over the last several weeks, students have been working side by side with The Boldt Company employees at the company’s modular construction center to construct a modular job trailer for FVTC’s new learning center site.
Cass said it was an unforgettable memory for the students and a great feedback opportunity for Boldt and FVTC on future potential projects.
The big picture
Cass said the 13’6” x 30’ by 11’ job trailer is part of the college’s new $1.4-million Construction Training Center (CTC) on Waupun Road in Oshkosh.
Students and FVTC instructors accepted delivery of the trailer from Boldt earlier this month – no easy feat, Cass said, as it weighs in at a little more than 20,000 pounds.
The trailer is one of the finishing touches to FVTC’s CTC, which Cass said is meant to look like a job site, complete with a field office classroom (the building created by students), storage containers and a mock structure where students will put together different structural component packages, ranging from steel, precast concrete, masonry and steel stud framing.
As a whole, Cass said it gives students field experience to understand how components go together, the sequencing and the craftwork that goes into each component.
Though students began using the training lab this semester, Cass said FVTC will host a ribbon-cutting celebration for the new facility during the fall semester.
Strong partnership
Cass said Boldt has partnered with FVTC on a handful of other projects since the inception of the CMT program 15 years ago – with the job trailer being the most recent.
“We’ve had students intern with them and students get hired by them,” he said. “They’ve donated components, as well as provided a field trip destination.”
In this case, Cass said students were able to go into the Boldt prefab facility and work under the supervision of Boldt employees as they worked together on the new job trailer.
Ben Bruns, executive vice president of modular operations at Boldt, said involving FVTC students on the project “was perfect.”
“FVTC is a great partner of ours,” he said. “Our project manager, James Farrell, is an alumnus of the CMT program.”
Getting to work with students one-on-one in an environment like this, Bruns said, matters.
“For them to be able to be in a classroom we, and they, built for training is unique,” he said.
Sparking an interest in the industry, Bruns said, is important, as every year the number of tradespeople leaving and retiring greatly outpace the number coming into the industry.
“It’s a fun industry,” he said. “There’s a lot of potential, but it can be a lot more efficient. And where we’re getting more efficient is through things like fabricating in our shop.”
An in-depth process
Farrell said the first step in building the modular job trailer was picking a design that made sense – zeroing in on the needs of the college.
Once that was done, he said figuring out the planning and coordination was next – including electrical, flooring, mechanical and more.
Farrell said the level of involvement Boldt received on the FVTC project from companies they typically partner with on other construction projects was “awesome.”
“It was refreshing and exciting to understand they’re all in,” he said. “From seeing how they can help build the industry to understanding how the CMT students could be part of their organizations – it speaks volumes to the partners and donors involved.”
Regional companies that donated labor and materials to the project in addition to Boldt, include:
- Faith Electric
- Tweet-Garot Mechanical
- Crafts Roofing
- Midwest Construction Materials
- Muza Metals
- MathFab
- L&W
- HJ Martin
- Quick Transport
“Once everything was figured out on that side,” Farrell said they had to figure out the students’ role in the project.
One of the most time-intensive parts of the planning process, he said, was the logistics behind where the crane was going to be and where the delivery truck was going to come in.
“We did a couple of site visits where we had to figure that out,” he said. “And while we ended up switching it last minute, it worked out well overall. We got done ahead of schedule. That’s why you do the pre-planning, so you limit last-minute surprises.”
Now that it’s in, Farrell said he rests easy knowing it was a success.
“I’m glad I was able to be a part of this with the students,” he said. “The students were the ones who did a lot of the labor, so it was enriching, I think, for them and also for the future students who will use this building.”
Hands-on experience
Bruns said though Boldt had previously worked with the college on curriculum, this is the first project of this type.
“When the college called and asked if we’d be interested in partnering with this complex, our President and CEO Dave Kievet said, ‘we want this to be extraordinary,’” he said.
Cass said he intended to have the students as involved as possible.
“Boldt was receptive to the idea of bringing our students in,” he said. “They’re experiencing something that’s a different dynamic than our classroom.”
Though he didn’t spend as much time with the students as he would have liked during the build, Farrell said he was still able to see the different skill levels.
“To be around the students makes you remember we were all green at one point,” he said. “The students were awesome, and everybody chipped in.”
To watch the camaraderie between the students and Boldt employees as the structure was being built, Farrell said was the pinnacle of the project for him.
“They were able to get a lot of understanding and take that to the CMT side of things,” he said. “The experience with those professionals is what’s going to pay dividends for them in the future”
Both Bruns and Farrell said they would have loved to have something like this when they were in school.
Farrell said what the program has now versus what it used to have, in terms of lab activities, is far better, more effective and more true to what the real construction experience is going to be like.
Though students get experience through internships, Farrell said he’s confident the job training site as a whole is going to give the experience that will suit them better from day one.
“They’ll get on a real job site and immediately be better suited to what they’re going to face that day than they would have been without this,” he said. “Not only will they get experience with that, but now they’ve got an off-site location to plan their construction activities. It’s more true to life, and it opens the mindset up to see the value options available within the industry.”
A student perspective
Numerous FVTC students were on-site in Oshkosh when the job center was delivering – watching the process, still learning.
First-year student Bennett Olson said being involved in the program was special for him, as he can see the dedication FVTC has put into the program.
He said being able to learn more about the modular building – how it all gets engineered, manufactured and fits together like a puzzle – was a neat experience.
Olson said he appreciated how the Boldt crews took them under their wings to teach them how to do certain things and to have that insight and on-site guidance.
He said his biggest takeaway goes hand in hand with what Bruns touts, “organization and efficiency.”
“To see how things can be built in a controlled environment, where out in the field things might be a little more hectic with a lot of moving parts was neat to see and be a part of,” he said.
Meanwhile, student Elizabeth O’bday said, “it was cool to finally see the structure sitting at our lab after seeing it built the last few weeks.”
“I’ve never been able to learn something so hands-on before,” she said.
Working side by side with Boldt employees, O’bday said provided her with the opportunity to ask questions as they came up.
She said she left feeling confident, comfortable and more knowledgeable all around.
“There were only two women in this class, and they loved seeing me at the job site and would love to see more women in the program,” she said.
