Construction students gain valuable experience

NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP) – The horses may not appreciate the pounding of hammers at a New Town arena, but it’s a pleasant sound to supporters and participants in Fort Berthold Reservation’s therapeutic and educational horse programs.

Twenty students with the Native Construction Career Institute respectfully quieting the hammers when the horses are around are working to transform a dim, dusty structure behind tribal headquarters into a first-rate arena. In the process, the students are gaining experience that will lead to certification in the building trades. That certification will qualify them for construction jobs, many of which are occurring on the reservation.

“That’s what it’s about is these guys getting jobs at the end,” said NCCI instructor Dan Kowalski of Tacoma, Wash.

Graduates likely will be placed with Marion Construction, prime contractor for the tribal health facility. Terry Marion has committed use of heavy equipment to the NCCI project.

By graduation on May 21, students will have placed concrete, painted, installed drywall, laid floors and counter tops, hung doors, learned to read blueprints, operated power tools safely and replaced electrical outlets among other tasks.

“It’s amazing to watch how these guys grow and progress by the end,” Kowalski said.

For users of the arena, the benefit of the construction institute will be to the reservation’s horse programs.

“It’s a big deal for us to have some place that we can call home,” said Leo Cummings, director of the tribal 477 Program and co-founder of the Healing Horse Program. The 477 Program is funding materials for the project.

The Healing Horse Program is designed to reinvigorate participants physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually through working with horses. The program uses horse-assisted therapy and horse culture mentoring programs to promote youth wellness.

“We are gaining more acceptance,” Cummings said. “We are becoming a player in the healing of our reservation.”

Construction students began the arena renovation this month as part of their 400-hour training.

A concrete pad in one corner of the arena will be converted into a tack room. Four horse stalls will be built in another corner of the arena. Former offices on an upper level will be remodeled and will include an enclosed viewing area overlooking the arena.

Kowalski said he will be diagnosing the lighting system, which gives limited illumination now, to determine how it can be improved. A nonworking furnace and baseboard heaters will be replaced with an updated, energy-efficient heating system.

Although the building currently lacks sewer and water, students will be preparing a restroom for future service. There will be some building demolition involved, and in keeping with “green” construction, lumber will be salvaged for other uses. Workers will wrap up the work by bringing in sand for the arena floor to cut down on dust.

Mary Fredericks, land grant coordinator at Fort Berthold Community College, said the college wants to add equine care courses to horse classes already taught and to do more public education. The college is considering a certificate program in equine-assisted therapy.

Without a suitable arena, though, those programs would be difficult to implement, Fredericks said. The current arena doesn’t meet the codes required for public educational events, she said.

Jessica White Plume, who works with the Three Affiliated Tribes’ mental health and Healing Horse programs, said an improved arena will allow more year-round activity and provide a better environment for the horse programs.

“It will mean so much. The possibilities as far as helping youth with the horses are endless. The facility has been one of our only limitations,” she said. “It really shows respect to our kids to have a nice and safe learning area for them. It’s something we can all be proud of.”

The NCCI project also will assist HATS (horse-assisted training for success), a two-day workshop that uses horses to strengthen participants’ skills in areas such as communication, leadership, teamwork and culture.

Marcus Irlbeck of New Town, a student in the construction course, likes that he is helping with the horse programs. He said he wants to make the arena as good as he can for them.

Irlbeck and his brother, Joseph Irlbeck, both are enrolled in the course. They are familiar with carpentry but signed up for the additional experience and certification.

“I thought this would help me in the future,” Joseph Irlbeck said. “You can get hands-on experience.”

“They are teaching us all kinds of things,” added Marcus Irlbeck, who is interested in starting a construction business with his brother.

Kowalski said the institute began as a 300-hour program. A separate, optional 200-hour entrepreneurship program was added. The two programs later merged into one 400-hour course.

“They really liked that concept of helping these guys become contractors,” Kowalski said. Following a previous project at Spirit Lake Reservation near Devils Lake, two students started their own firm and hired fellow students.

The institute in New Town was opened to students aged 18 to 24 to comply with a youth grant program that is providing stipends for the students.

All students receive tools for the course. If they complete the program, they keep the tools. They also receive a certificate for every 100 hours of training as well as a completion certificate in a ceremony at the end.

Because the institute is backed by the construction trades, unions make an effort to employ the graduates. Workers also will be available for the local projects that tribes anticipate over the next 10 years, said John Barkley, director of field operations for the institute and a member of the Umatilla Tribe near Pendleton, Ore.

“So as we do these projects, we feel it is an opportune time to capitalize on them by having our native people learn these crafts and these trades,” Barkley said. “There’s considerable benefits for them to enjoy long-lasting careers and contribute to the economy of the tribes. It’s these kinds of opportunities that tend to minimize the list of social ills that come with unemployment and lack of opportunity.”

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Information from: Minot Daily News,
http://www.minotdailynews.com