July 23, 2003 4:50 PM CDT

High School Sponsorship Campaign

By Melissa Polivka

As an active part of the masonry industry, you are undoubtedly familiar with our longstanding need for a sustained recruitment program to lay a foundation of future mason journeymen. We are proud to announce that the MCAA has launched the first on-going masonry recruitment effort within our nation?s high schools.

In April of 2003, we distributed brochures to every public high school in the United States. Guidance counselors were asked to request a free ?Check Out a Career in Masonry? career kit to introduce their students to the rewarding opportunities our industry has to offer. Through their responses, which we are still receiving today, we have obtained the contact names and email addresses of over 1,100 high school officials interested in helping us recruit young people into the trade.

Shipping the newly revised ?Check Out a Career in Masonry? career kit is just the first step toward a relationship that we will build within these schools. While our campaign includes placing career information in every guidance office, with the contact names we?ve logged, we will also educate counselors and administrators on promoting masonry careers, assist in the establishment of masonry vocational experiences for all students, and maintain a dialogue with young people to create a positive image of our industry?s opportunities.

We are currently in the process of acquiring sponsorship for all of these 1,100 schools nationwide, and we are speaking with our members? best suppliers to ask for help. At $200 per school, a supplier can directly affect the bottom line of his business, by ensuring an installer base for years to come, through this small investment.

The success of this sponsorship campaign will rest on the willingness of your suppliers to answer our call for support. We believe that they will understand and appreciate the need for an effort such as this, and that we will be able to greatly expand this program, and as a result, our industry?s workforce.

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About the Author

Melissa Polivka spent time as the Director of Marketing, Director of Membership, and Director of Workforce Development for the Mason Contractors Association of America.