High School Students Gain Heavy Equipment, Paving Experience, Facility Tour and more through Peckham’s Partnership with Youth Apprenticeship Program

Earlier this year, Peckham Industries employees partnered with the Questar III’s Heavy Equipment and Maintenance Operation program to share hands-on construction industry work with local high school students. Questar’s Durham, NY location houses the Columbia-Greene Heavy Equipment Operation & Maintenance program.

In mid-April, the Peckham team brought a paver and roller to the site for demonstrations for the day-long education event. Peckham Industries team members who coordinated the sessions included BJ Murray, Dan Flannery, Ethan Blue, Dillon Rion, Zach Pierce, Evan Mallory, John Burnham, Mike Ulmer, and Rick Rosa. Each session began by distributing personal protective equipment and holding a Toolbox Talk to review important safety information. Then the students split up into groups to learn about the equipment. After reviewing the projects verbally and talking about safety, Peckham personnel supervised the students as they put about 300 tons of subbase through the paver and compacted it in place. By the end of the day, the school’s parking lot and bus turnaround area had been paved! The students took turns at all of the different roles and received hands-on training and instruction from the Peckham crew members.

A subsequent half-day event in early June brought the students to Peckham’s Catskill, NY quarry to review its quarry and hot mix asphalt production operations and to learn about opportunities available to them within the construction industry. The day started with a safety meeting before moving on to a complete plant tour. The students learned about our drone technology, operating equipment, quality control, production, day-to-day plant operations, and more. The students were able to experience plant operations, heavy equipment, and technology in action as the plant remained operational during the tour.

Peckham Industries’ participation as a Youth Apprenticeship Program partner with Questar III helps students to become more aware of the excellent career opportunities at the company in the construction industry. The Peckham team is always excited to educate young people and students on the potential construction industry career opportunities available to them.