Region 8, Mid-Coast School of Technology

November 20, 2009 - The largest group ever to represent Mid-Coast School of Technology recently attended the 10th Annual Craft Championships.  Twenty one students from the Residential Construction program participated in a number of events taking place at the Augusta Civic Center. Instructor Dan Dishner was proud of the attendance and engagement of the MCST students.  "I thought all of the students did a good job of participating this year. They were all required to do at least one event. Several did at least three," said Dishner.  Out of the 21 students, six were women, five who are currently in the program at MCST and one former student, Anaya Miller.  When asked which students really stood out in their performance during the day, Dishner said,  "If I were to choose any student(s) I'd probably go with Anaya Miller and Amanda Peterson. Last year Anaya was stumped on a rigging task. She headed right to it again this year taking Amanda with her. The task is to rig an apparatus and lift it with a chain hoist so that it remains level. Together, those two girls worked on that for almost an hour. The woman overseeing the rigging booth has been coming for years and was very impressed with their effort. Both girls had their name mentioned over the intercom for best effort of the day."

Each year Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine hosts Craft Championships at the Augusta Civic Center.  Utilizing the Civic Center’s Main Auditorium, there is over 24,500 square feet of hands-on activities for high school students to engage.  Maine’s Craft Championships is unique to any others in the nation because our industry trades people work directly with high school students on a wide range of construction projects.  While some students are working inside, other students are working outside in welding trailers, line trucks, or driving a dump truck. This past year, over 1200 Maine high school students attended and participated in over thirty hands-on construction activities with ABC members throughout the day.  The students were also able to visit with representatives from community colleges to learn about furthering their education in the construction industry.

Amanda Peterson builds a brick wall.

Left to right: Graham Deleo, Justin Koons, and Cierra Little prepare to get a birds eye view of all the action in the scissor lift.

Left to right: Mike Marble, Ike Morin and Jeff Bailey (in the back) building a rebar cage.

Brandon Fuller installing a garage door.