S. M. Wilson & Co.’s SKILLED® Construction Career Program Honors the SKILLED Award Winners

ST LOUIS, MO – S. M. Wilson & Co.’s SKILLED® construction career program awarded $1,000 prizes to high schoolers on Monday, April 7th at the 4th annual SKILLED Awards ceremony held at S. M. Wilson’s Hampton Ave. headquarters in St. Louis.

S. M. Wilson’s Construction Career Education program SKILLED provides hands-on opportunities to integrate academic learning and focus on future employment in the A/E/C industry. SKILLED’s mission is to “Inspire the future of construction.” The company established the initiative in 2019 to inspire the future of construction, a field struggling to employ enough workers. More than 17,000 students have been impacted since 2019.

The SKILLED Awards were launched in 2021 to honor the firm’s 100th anniversary. The SKILLED Awards challenge high school students to create a process, lesson, activity or product that engages students with science, technology, engineering, art and/or math (STEAM) to engage younger students in an inspiring way. Sponsored in partnership with the Missouri School Board Association (MSBA), the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA) and the STL Works, this year’s SKILLED Awards awarded three $1,000 prizes.

“The SKILLED awards program was designed to encourage the next generation to participate in STEAM education that directly benefits their communities,” said Mike
Yazbec, President. “Early exposure to STEAM skills creates opportunities for children to develop interest and pursue careers in construction and related industries.”

This year’s SKILLED Awards Program winners are:

Science Night, created by Amaya Burchett, a high school student from Fayette High School, to organize a science night for Fayette Elementary School and allow the students to conduct actual science experiments. Amaya’s vision will come to light later this spring as she will host the first-ever Science Night.
Take Flight, created by a team of St. Louis CAPS (STL CAPS) students Eldin Skampo (Affton High School), Logan Knecht (Oakville Sr. High School), and Pierce Green (Kirkwood High School), engages elementary students in creating and modifying paper airplanes while also understanding the importance of developing skills to approach any project in the future. STL CAPS provides profession-based learning opportunities for high school juniors and seniors. STL CAPS has students from the following districts enrolled in our courses: Affton, Bayless, Fox, Kirkwood, Lindbergh, and Mehlville.

“Our project allowed the kids to indulge in many different activities which will leave a lasting impression on the kids. Each activity called for a different strength, allowing each kid multiple opportunities to find the station that best suited their strengths, which leaves a lasting impression,” said the Science Night entry regarding the Creative Innovation of the project.

For the first time, a SKILLED Grant was also awarded. The funds were given directly to the school district to execute a project submitted by students.

Storybook Walk, submitted by students from Troy Buchanan High School with the Troy R-3 School District, redesigns and improves the existing Storybook Walk in Weinand Park while also enhancing their community.

Over the past five years, SKILLED has reached thousands of students across several school districts in Missouri and Illinois.

Since SKILLED’s inception in 2019, this construction career program has impacted the following:

More than 17,000 students served
100+ unique STEAM education events
More than 1,950+ hours of educational programming
Provided 20 academic stipends
$121,000 in college loans, 529 college savings and tuition reimbursement contributions

“By recognizing and rewarding innovative projects and initiatives, the program aims to inspire young minds to apply their knowledge and skills in STEAM fields to address real-world challenges and make a tangible difference in the lives of others,” says Amanda Bohnert, CPSM, S. M. Wilson’s Chief Marketing Officer and founder of SKILLED. “This program can introduce construction career education early in a child’s life and provide continued opportunities as they grow and discover their career path.”

Throughout the construction of the firm’s projects, S. M. Wilson hosts various SKILLED events and job site tours to educate preschool through high school students about the project, construction practices and industry career opportunities.

SKILLED events include:

Career presentations: M. Wilson professionals cover topics including career paths, education/training experience, general interests and talents;
Follow the Build: Site tours followed by classroom discussions with members of the construction team;
Build & Tell: Construction equipment and technology demonstrations;
STEAM Projects: Students are guided through a project to create a building design or engineer and construct a structure;
Community Celebrations: Student handprint or art installations, tours, groundbreakings, beam raising, ribbon cuttings and more; and
SKILLED Awards.

Learn more at www.SMWSKILLED.com.

ABOUT S. M. WILSON & CO.

Ranked #34 by Building Design + Construction’s Top 100 K-12 School Construction Firms, S. M. Wilson’s Pre-K to 12th-grade education project expertise includes $2 billion in local work for more than 65 schools in more than 45 school districts, including constructing 6,000+ classrooms. S. M. Wilson is working on school-build programs for Alton CUSD #11, Columbia Public Schools, Edwardsville CUSD #7, Francis Howell School District, Hallsville School District, Jefferson City School District, Ladue School District, Pattonville School District and Rochester CUSD #3A.

To learn more about S. M. Wilson, go to www.smwilson.com.

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S. M. Wilson & Co.’s SKILLED® Construction Career Program Honors the SKILLED Award Winners