PROGRAMS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Most local school districts can provide construction education courses for high school students. Check with your school counselor.

Profile

BRIAN COBB
Apprenticeship

Ever since Brian Cobb started helping his dad on construction sites, he wondered who the people were who designed the buildings. When he reached high school, he met a teacher named Fred Avila who saw this interest in architecture almost immediately. Avila decided he could help fan the young man's flame for the craft by hiring the boy on for the summer to help him in his own architectural work.

When Avila started teaching at the Center for Advanced Research Technologies (CART), he arranged for Cobb to come with him for his junior and senior years in high school. Cobb took as many architecture classes as possible and eventually won a summer internship with Paul Stommel at Associate Design Engineering.

As Cobb tells it, the real impact of the mentoring relationships he formed with Avila and Stommel was "knowing that this is right for me." He got the opportunity to experience real world working environments with support and training from his mentors. Now, as a college freshman he already has experience with the Datacad program, some basic engineering, elevations and roof lay out, and floor plans.

Cobb is one hundred percent certain that architecture is the career for him. When he finishes his general education requirements at Fresno City College he plans on transferring to Cal Poly to earn his Bachelors Degree in Architecture. He knows that at nineteen he is already way ahead of the game.

Are you an employer?
Participate in a training program.

• ensure that you have a properly qualified workforce
• efficient use of time and resources
• shared training costs

Contact us to learn more.