HELENA — Helena area high school students are digging into their future careers in the trades at Digger Days.
“Just to learn some trades you have never done before and maybe have an idea of what you want to do after high school,” Levi Coon, a junior, said.
Students got their hands dirty with everything from heavy machinery operation and concrete work to framing and plumbing. The event is led by Tactics Montana and a handful of sponsors.
“Being able to pull on the community to come together and bring these pieces of equipment out here, we probably have over 3 million dollars in equipment sitting here being run by the kids,” Lucas Canney, a shop instructor from Capital High, says. “They would never have access to something like that inside of the school building.”
Over one hundred students got to learn through hands-on experience. Calvin Schriver is one of those students and says, “What inspired me is to just like have the hard work and dedication that I want to use big machinery.”
Women only make up about 4 percent of the nation’s trades workforce, and Amy Mergenthaler is motivated to become part of that small percentage. “I have been inspired my whole life by my dad to be just like him, and getting to actually participate in these things just goes to show that women are just as capable,” Mergenthaler says.
Digger Days is more than just a fun day spent outside the classroom. It’s also about preparation and getting students to think about their futures.
Eli Cunningham, a sophomore, said, “Hopefully they see the worth in the trades because it's always a job you can go into and it is pretty good paying too, so it's always something you can rely on to go do.”
