“I like to work hands-on,” said Nakagawa, the first in his family to go into construction. He was hired right afterward as a carpenter’s apprentice, and is now making $20.20 an hour on a high-rise project, Ko‘ula at Ward Village. Genesis Nakagawa, 18, graduated from Waipahu High in May and completed the summer internship with Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Co. There they shadow and learn from seasoned carpenters, drywallers and millwrights, who work with precision machinery. Students spend a week at the Hawaii Carpenters and Drywall Training Fund Center in Kapolei, learning construction site safety and other basics, before heading to their job sites. Contractors must be signatories to the union’s master contract. Given its growth, the program is also signing up more employers through April to host students at their work sites. This internship program is an awesome opportunity and option for them.” “Some students really want to go to that four-year university others want to go straight into industry. “We love this program: It opens doors for the students,” said Brandy Yagi, assistant principal at Waipahu High, who oversees the school’s Academy of Industrial & Engineering and Technology.
Juniors and seniors who have completed certain courses in the construction curriculum at those 26 high schools are eligible to apply for seven-week summer internships paying $15 an hour - and the deadline is Friday. The Department of Education partnered with the Hawaii Carpenters Apprenticeship and Training Fund to create it. The Career Connections program in the building trades has mushroomed to 26 public high schools on six islands since it started at Kahuku, McKinley and Waianae in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has thrown off job prospects for many teenagers, but Hawaii’s construction industry is still buzzing along and seeking students for paid summer internships at job sites.
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