Congratulations to Dan

On May 7, 2016, I attended a graduation for a friend of mine who graduated with a Diploma in Carpentry. He graduated with honors for being a top apprentice in his trade, having straight A's and perfect attendance.  There were fifty students graduating in the categories of Carpentry, Electrical, Masonry, Pipefitting, Plumbing and Sheet Metal. The event was held at the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities and the graduates were in dark purple cap and gowns. It was interesting to see that two of the graduates were women!

The Keynote Speaker gave an inspiring talk and used his water rafting story to emphasize a point.  Paraphrasing his story: He went water rafting on the Arkansas River and at one point the rafters were told they could swim across the river, hike a bit and climb a small mountain to the other side of the river and jump off the bridge into the water. He opted not to do it. As he sat in the raft he thought since he was the only one not doing it maybe he should also swim across the river. He began swimming but the current was taking him down stream and he panicked and yelled, "Hey, I am going downstream, help!" The raft leaders hollered, "Put your feet in the water and stand up." When he did as they told him, he was able to walk across the river with a very embarrassed face!"

"Many of you, will need to stand up to take care of your families. Don't let anything stand in your way to better yourself. This is the first step and from here you can move forward because now you have the skills that will allow you to work and improve." Awards were given to instructors and recognition was given to the Board of Directors of CITC, (Construction Industry Training Council of Colorado, Inc.)

After the ceremony, a reception was held for the graduates and their family and friends. I was surprised that such school existed for learning these trades. I guess I thought people learned through osmosis or by working in the field. It was impressive to hear how companies encouraged their workers to attend school and how each graduate thanked their wife, their family, fellow workers, and God for the opportunity to learn a trade.

On the back of the program I read: It takes a skilled team of construction personnel to build your company's future. To keep growing in a competitive marketplace, you need a well-trained workforce. The CITC is the place to obtain commercial, open-shop construction apprenticeship training. You can become a highly-skilled craftsman through classes and hand-on labs in a state of the art training facility.

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