MassDOT Looks To Nashoba Tech As Trade Workers Retire

WESTFORD, MA — In an effort to start replacing construction trade workers who are retiring out of the field, the Massachusetts Department just trained more than a dozen seniors at Nashoba Valley Technical High School. Some 13 students completed a 30-Hour Massachusetts Pre-Apprenticeship and Vocational School Training Program run by MassDOT.

The department started the training program in an effort to find and interest people in the construction trades as across the country laborers are retiring and few are stepping up to replace them. The program prepares students in vocational-technical schools to enter the workforce when they graduate, according to officials.

“We need to address the aging workforce,” said Thomas Lemon, the lead instructor for the Hopkinton-based program in a release. “So, basically, we’re forming a pipeline of vocational-technical students to replace the men and women that are retiring.”

Lemon called the laborers in the 15 construction trades in Massachusetts “the special forces” when it comes to highway construction projects.

“They’re the front-line soldiers,” he said. “These men and women are the first ones on the job and the last to leave. They’re there when the first nail is hammered until the final broom is swept.”

The week of training for Nashoba Tech students included lessons in surveying; concrete mixing and framing; certification in CPR and first aid; highway work-zone safety; and what Lemon called “soft skills,” such as interview techniques, work ethic and construction safety.

Students who completed the training program will also be eligible to take classes to get their CDL-B and Hoisting licenses for free.

The students who participated:

• Brent Robinson, Westford, Automotive Collision Repair & Refinishing.

• Michael Hourihan, Chelmsford, Electrical Technology.

• Christopher Walters, Shirley, Plumbing & Heating.

• Thomas Woodward, Ayer, Electrical Technology.

• Jake Benjamin, Townsend, Electrical Technology.

• Matthew Sciuto, Westford, Automotive Collision Repair & Refinishing.

• Garrett Callahan, Ayer, Plumbing & Heating.

• Jonathan Wright, Townsend, Plumbing & Heating.

• Colin Keaney, Chelmsford, Plumbing & Heating.

• John Felix, Shirley, Plumbing & Heating.

• Daniel Osgood, Littleton, Electrical Technology.

• Daniel Haluska, Townsend, Electrical Technology.

• James Wheeler, Shirley, Electrical Technology.