Junior and senior students in the Lorain County JVS Masonry Trades program participated in the Ohio-Kentucky Administrative District Council of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers 14th annual Holiday Masonry Skills Competition, according to a release from the school.
The competition, held Nov. 30, was at the Northern Ohio Regional Training Center in Amherst. Eighteen competitors, 10 juniors and 8 seniors, from five school districts competed.
Lorain County JVS Masonry Trades junior student Elijah Gonzalez from Wellington placed third in the competition.
Gonzalez shared that his career tech program made him feel prepared for the event.
“I felt good going into it. We knew the layout before the competition, but we didn’t know what the size was going to be. I did the project about three different times in our lab, so I felt ready to compete,” he said.
Each student was given a blueprint that showed a brick project that had to be built in two hours. Bricklayers and advisory members were on hand to judge the projects based on correct design, level, plumb, square, tooling neatness and workmanship.
Gonzalez has been a student at Lorain County JVS since his freshman year and being able to shadow the masonry program as a sophomore, made it clear that this is the career path for him.
“I spent time in each of the building trades labs and was able to see that the Masonry Trade program was the fit for me,” he said.
Seniors Noah Bates (Brookside), Emily Miller (Firelands), and junior Camryn Broad (Keystone) also competed.
