Verify In Field: The Millwork Podcast

Education, Outreach & Opportunity with Adria Salvatore 

• Yuksel Nunez Araujo • Season 2 • Episode 17

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In this episode of Verify In Field, host Jacob Edmond reconnects with returning guest Adria Salvatore, Education Director at the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI), to explore the education initiatives that are shaping the next generation of millwork professionals. 

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Adria Salvatore

Everyone really loves each other and just looks forward to hanging out. And so we try to facilitate that as much we can. We have a team building event, which is always fun and yeah, just lovely dinners and extracurricular things going on.

Jacob Edmond

Welcome back, everybody to Verify In Field today. I am excited to have Adria Salvatore on with us for a second time. She is Education Director at Architectural Woodwork Institute and we've been working together very closely on a lot of exciting projects and she's doing amazing things at a WI, so I'm glad to have her on and share with you guys all the stuff that's going on in the a WI world. Thanks, Adria.

Adria Salvatore

Thanks for having me, Jacob. Nice to be back.

Jacob Edmond

Yeah. I think gets you started one, if you're listening and you haven't listened to Adria's last interview we'll link that in the show notes or probably have a little link here on YouTube for you to go back and listen to our past interview. But if you wouldn't mind, maybe just for those that have never listened to that episode, give a brief introduction of yourself, your role at a WI and, how you got to where you're at in the mill work industry.

Adria Salvatore

For sure. I often say that I'm an imposter because I've been around the millwork industry for quite a while now, but I still know very, very little about woodworking. It's kind of shameful at this point. But I um, got. Thrown into the woodworking industry um, more broadly in 2007. That's when I started at AWFS, which is the trade show in Las Vegas. And I spent about 15 years there and had a wonderful experience and career there. And then two years ago I came over to AWI and my role now is Education Director.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome.

Adria Salvatore

been a great journey.

Jacob Edmond

And so for those that aren't familiar with a WI, can you talk about some of the things that you work on and all the education initiatives that a WI has?'Cause I know a lot of people who know of AWI as the standards, right? The a WI standards that most millwork manufacturers are familiar with and a lot of us follow. But education, that's a whole other set of initiatives that a WI, works on.

Adria Salvatore

For sure. Yeah, it's true. I think most people do associate standards first and foremost, and QCP, our Quality Compliance Program and stuff. But we do a ton with education. We're super, super proud of it. It's a big part of our mission and our purpose and our strategic planning, it's always like education is very high up there. And so these days that kind of lives out through our events. So my role includes overseeing our events for our member companies and for the industry. This includes our annual convention, which is coming up in October, and that's our big event. In the spring we also have Spring Leadership, which is very similar to convention. We have general sessions and educational content for our attend. Throughout the year we also have education outreach seminars which are more in depth and topic specific on topics like project management, financial management, estimating and contracts. Then we have bootcamp, which is super unique. There's really nothing like it. And that is a week long, very intensive woodworking bootcamp is the best way to put it. It's long days of learning everything you can about woodworking. It's a really cool program. A lot of my job is just overseeing those events and making sure everything's running smoothly and all the things get to where they need to go and people and all that good stuff. And then beyond that, education outreach, working with schools and students and teachers is a really big thing that we work on. And then our other projects, which I think we'll talk more about our industry solutions which is our online learning platform. We have a high school curriculum that recently came out, scholarships and grants that we give away and skills, USA involvement.

Jacob Edmond

Wow, that's a lot. And I'm sure a lot that most people probably aren't familiar with or didn't realize you guys were working on. First to start with, let's talk about the physical events that you have. National is is next up coming up in October. And actually the episode previous to this I had Scott Waldron on who's gonna be one of the keynote speakers there. If you're listening to this and you're gonna be at convention or you're thinking about it and you have time to still go you should definitely come check it out. If not, definitely come in the spring and April. So you guys put on two. Primary events per year. Two conventions. So you've got National and then Spring Leadership. Can you tell us a little bit more just about those two events and the difference between the two or what people could expect that maybe haven't been to those?

Adria Salvatore

For sure. Yeah. I'm super excited that you had Skot

Jacob Edmond

I.

Adria Salvatore

And thank you for introducing us to Scott. Him on our family gathering a couple weeks ago and it was a really great conversation. It's gonna be one fantastic. Um, So our annual convention always falls in the fall. The location changes every year. We're usually at a resort type venue and we encourage our members to bring their family, their spouses. So it's a family oriented event. this year we'll be in San Antonio Hill Country. It's in October 19th through the 21st. Registration as of today is still open, and so please join us. We'd love to have you. And so it's like a two and a half day event. There's two days of educational programming. It's full days speakers on leadership topics. Skot's gonna be talking about vision and change and how to get your team on board with change and adapting and adjusting to change and how that relates to your vision. We also have an economist from ITR who will come and give us an update. Taylor St. Germaine. He's new to us this year. We'll have Dominic Rubino. I'm sure a lot of folks know him. He's, he's a great industry, in, insider. And we'll have Allison Van Huser who's gonna talk about workforce development, basically how to foster growth within your workforce and encourage those folks like learning more about their stories and how to communicate with them more effectively to help them grow and advance within your company. So the retention aspect, I would say of workforce development.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome.

Adria Salvatore

So in addition to the sessions, we have great meals. Obviously the alcohol is there, which is a lot of fun and just networking. All that kind of leads into great networking opportunities. So a lot of people really value as much as the education, just getting to see their friends and colleagues. It's like a reunion. It's really cool to see the culture and environment at AWI events. Everyone really loves each other and just looks forward to hanging out. And so we try to facilitate that as much we can. We have a team building event, which is always fun and yeah, just lovely dinners and extracurricular things going on.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome.

Adria Salvatore

That's

Jacob Edmond

Yes. Yeah. No, and it, like you said, it is a lot of networking. There's also you did mention this, but there are a lot of suppliers there as well. So there is some supplier, what do you call it? Where we have tables and people can go in between sessions and meet with the software vendors, hardware companies, some materials companies. We'll be there with the table as well. And then, yeah every breakfast, lunch, dinner, evenings there's lots of networking. And also I believe National's When you guys introduce the chair for the following year, correct.

Adria Salvatore

Yes. Yeah, so we have our formal dinner where the gavel is passed. So we'll introduce our new chair and thank our outgoing chair. You're absolutely right. That's a big omission. I forgot the product fair. So we're super excited and happy to have all of our sponsors and partners there. And so like our receptions are within that product fair area, so you get to mingle with the folks who have tables and interact in that way.

Jacob Edmond

And then spring leadership is a little bit more laid back, a little bit smaller. It's more leadership focused and a lot of more emergence leaders. I know you guys have been pushing for emerging leaders and the younger next generation come and attend that. And that happens usually in April, roughly right.

Adria Salvatore

Yep, exactly. So this upcoming April the 12th through the 14th will be in Las Vegas. So that's really exciting in itself. We haven't gone to Vegas in a really long time. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. We have some really cool new things that we're cooking up. We'll probably be announcing at and around convention, so in October, stay tuned for news on that. But yeah, you're right. The audience, we really encourage emerging leaders. So the, those emerging leaders are folks that are on your team that you wanna kind of foster or mentor or, bring up in leadership. And so we offer a half price registration rate for those folks. And then we have a student program. So we encourage students in college, woodworking or related programs to come to the event. A lot of times we have Pittsburgh State students and their instructors at spring Leadership. The format is very similar to convention. We don't have a product fair. And certainly not to the size that we do at convention, we're talking about incorporating that. So stay tuned. But at this point, yeah, it's really more focused on the networking opportunities and then the educational programming.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome. So those are the recurring events you do in person every year. You also mentioned you have, seminars, which I think is. The next event you have in Chicago. And those happen a couple times a year, I think, throughout the country, in different places where you have education outreach, specifically about estimating finance contracts project management, I believe are the four main pillars.

Adria Salvatore

You're hired, Jacob. That's it. Yeah. Those are like two to three day programs. So education outreach in the past, that's a program that we've had going for many years. And previously our chapters would lead those and each seminar would be offered um, standalone. And so last year we decided to bring them all together. And again, because we see the value in networking and so it's. The idea was we could have all four seminars taking place at the same time. You could bring different members of your team specific to those departments, and then it just kind of fosters more conversations, communication, connections. And yeah it's been really cool. We've seen quite a few companies bring multiple team members. We have a special discount if you do that. And so then they get a little bit of bonding and team building. Out of that as well. And then they're meeting with their counterparts at other companies, so it's really cool. So yeah, you nailed it. Those are the four topics that we cover. Contracts, financial management, project management, and estimating. They're really fun. All the sessions are even contracts, which I know everyone's like, yikes.

Jacob Edmond

Okay.

Adria Salvatore

it's a really good session. It's eight hours of classroom time, and then the other three topics are 12 hours of classroom time. We break that up into four hour segments so you're not sitting in a classroom for more than four hours a day, which I know is really helpful.'Cause it can get long and stuff, but they're interactive seminars. They all have workbooks and that sort of thing, and you're doing activities and there's a game element even to the project management one. So the teams are really good. And yeah people walk away with a good understanding and also making new friends and connections. A really important aspect to the education outreach is we always offer a tour as well. So for example, this one will be in Chicago next week and we'll be touring Bernhard Woodwork. So we really thank mark Bernhard and his team for allowing us to come, as well as Proveri Custom Counters. So thank you to Liz and her team. So yeah, it's just adding, enhancing the educational experience. It's always great to get out and see facilities when we can, and so we're really thankful to those companies for letting us do that.

Jacob Edmond

Amazing. One more thing I wanted to ask you about, you touched on this briefly, is industry solutions. A WI IS and I officially launched right at a year ago at National, I believe is when it was launched. And so that is the online platform that you guys provide, which is free to the industry and are continuing to develop. And I know there's more things in the works to be released there. So you tell us a little bit about what that is, how it's been going for the first year and what is coming down the pipes or what people can look forward to.

Adria Salvatore

Yeah, for sure. Yes. So industry solutions or as we've been terming it IS an online on demand learning. Platform or a LMS if you're an insider learning management system so I'm sure you've seen these, if you've done any sort of online training, you create an account, you log in, there's videos that you watch. The videos are embedded with quiz questions for comprehension. And then at the end of the course there's an exam to test your knowledge and then you earn a credential if you pass that exam. So what's available now on IS and was launched last year at our convention right about a year ago is the Principles of Woodworking. So it's a course that consists of over 60 videos. Each of the videos are around three to five minutes. So they're super palatable, easy to get through. And again, those videos have little questions like tucked in while you're watching to make sure you're paying attention and following the material. And it takes about eight to 10 hours to get through the course, the principles of woodworking course. And then the final exam you have to earn 85% or higher on your score, and then you'll earn your credential verifying that you completed the Principles of Woodworking Course. So it's been going really well in the past year. We have over a thousand um, users that have logged in and engaged with the system, and we have a little over 200 folks who have completed the whole course and earned that credential by passing the exam. So we're super excited about it. People are definitely interested and engaged with it. We're seeing if you wanna get into who's using it and how and all that stuff, we could talk about that.

Jacob Edmond

Yeah, and it is. So that's something that is free to the industry, not just WI members, and is also, I believe, offered in both English and in Spanish too. Right.

Adria Salvatore

Yes, absolutely. So yes, the whole course is entirely in Spanish as well. Um, And it doesn't just mean that the captions or the transcription on the bottom is. There's actually Spanish speaking talent on the videos that goes through it. And all the graphics on the videos are in Spanish. So yeah, that's, we're very proud of that. and yeah, it's entirely free Principals of Woodworking. All you do is set up a free online account. Anybody can access it and get going on their journey.

Jacob Edmond

So I think that's a extremely valuable and amazing resource you've made available to the industry that not enough people I think, know about. But this is something that, you know, if you have somebody entry level coming into your shop trying to, learn to work in the shop floor. They could take it even office personnel that you want to have more familiar with the work you guys do in woodworking to be able to fulfill their responsibilities. It's totally free online, something that can be done from anywhere on their computer in both English and Spanish. I think that's amazing. And I believe the first of its kind and the whole industry that I'm aware of.

Adria Salvatore

Yeah. And I, yes, we are seeing companies use it exactly like you said. They're using it as part of their onboarding. We're seeing the emails. It's really cool because the employer will reach out to us and say, Hey, help me set up this person's contact. This is their first day. So that's super exciting for us. And yeah, as they're preparing their, internal onboarding of put'em in front of a computer and say, Hey, start with this. Start learning. So yeah, it's, that was the original intent and purpose when our board made the decision to invest in this program and get this going, was to be a resource for our member companies and for the industry. We quickly found out that it's also super beneficial and valuable for high schools. And so right out of the gate, a lot of high school teachers when they found out about it, they were like, I want in, how do I do this with my students? So that's been really cool to see that demographic engaged with it and just that whole, portion grow. So teachers are using it in their classrooms, as a group learning tool. Like they'll show the videos on the big screen for everybody or they'll as independent study kind of thing, and have students go and do it on their own and earn their exam. We're really excited about that.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome. And that's, honestly, that's a great segue into kind of the next topic because historically speaking, and a lot of what you just shared about the in-person events, the education outreach, have been all resources really for the existing industry. People Already, and members of a WI, But there's a significant portion of a WI efforts and what you focus on that's focusing on the next generation and getting young people in our industry. And so you mentioned, the high school teachers and secondary teachers reaching out to you about A WI IS. And earlier on, I think you mentioned that you guys have already worked on a specific curriculum for high schools. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Adria Salvatore

That's a really cool project that happened very quickly. I really credit our CEO Doug Hague for spearheading the curriculum project because it, I think it really was a perfect marriage of he knew the right people. And just, we were driven to make it happen. So that, again, that also was a board discussion. And that's also an example of our beautiful culture at AWI and how the process works with our board and how we hear what's important to them, and they are representatives of our member companies. And so when they have a vision or direction for us we make it happen and I'm really proud of that. And so last year, literally it was just a year ago they decided, okay, we need to develop a high school curriculum. And we jumped on it. And that was a partnership with the Kansas state Career Tech Ed Department through Pittsburgh State. They have the resources and the knowledge. Obviously as industry folks, we don't know how to build a curriculum, that's pretty complicated. But they walked us through that process. We had a committee of teachers that shared their resources, lesson plans, exams, projects, all the things that are needed to build that curriculum. So they kindly shared all of that, and then it was overseen by Saul Martin, our education technical manager. And so he made sure it was aligned with industry needs and AWI standards and all those important things. So year one was released last year. So that curriculum that's intended for first year woodworking students in the high school setting. It's entirely free again, which we're very proud of. So any teacher or educator can log on to the K-C-C-T-E website, and I'm sure we could share this in the show notes. And they can access all of the resources for the curriculum. It's a la carte. If they're just looking for lesson plans or just project plans or exams or safety materials or that sort of thing, they can grab what they want or they can get the whole package. Teachers have been downloading and using the materials there, and years two and three. So that's obviously more advanced cabinet making content and things like advanced materials and machinery and that sort of thing. So those would be for the sophomore, junior year, Level students those were just completed, so they should be available on the website in the coming months. I am personally just shocked and so pleasantly surprised by the speed of that project. It's rare to see something like that come together so quickly. But yep it's a wonderful project.

Jacob Edmond

Amazing. I just wanna make a note. You mentioned, this is a lot due to credit to Doug, the CEO of a WI, which he has an extensive education background himself and I've had him on the podcast twice, so we'll link that as well in the show notes'cause. One, the first one he talks about his background and his story. And the second one, I think he talks about the launch of IS actually a year ago. So those are great listens for anybody who wants to find out more about IS specifically but talking about you, the initiative and the push a WI has been instrumental in I think accessing and really bringing the next generation specifically from high school and post-secondary into our industry. Can you talk about just this obstacle of attracting young professionals specifically to millwork and woodworking. There is a skills gap, I think, for the trades in general that we've been seeing here in the us. And definitely I think has been over the many years we've been seeing it more and more as the last generation is retiring out and they're not being replenished at the same rate. They're leaving so this is continuing to be a larger and larger pain point. And you guys, a WI has been doing amazing work with education resources and also partnering with Skills USA. But can you just talk about that as far as an obstacle, how that pain point is affecting no workshops in, in our industry today.

Adria Salvatore

Oh my gosh. Yeah, there's so many things you said that were like nestled in. But to answer your question obstacles yes, there certainly are some. I've seen a lot of change growth in the 18 years now that I've been around it. I would say fundamental issues that we face and need to overcome is still awareness. People about our industry. They don't understand that there are valuable careers in our industry. And then the next level is how to access how to find the training and how to find the career pathways to get into the industry. So we're still very much hidden. People just don't understand that our little but powerful segment exists and why it's a desirable path and how they can get into it.

Jacob Edmond

And, one of those ways that you guys have been instrumental for years now is partnering with Skills, USA there's multiple organizations across the US that work to, kind of make that demographic aware of our industry, but Skills USA is definitely one of'em. Can you talk a little bit about skills, USA what it is, how it works and how AWI's been partnering with Skills?

Adria Salvatore

Yeah. So Skills USA is a career technical student organization, or CTSO is the acronym. And I promise I won't. Get into, there's industry language, there's education language, it gets all crazy. But yeah, there's several different CTSOs. So if you think back however long ago to your high school career and at your, on your campus, you might have had FFA, which is Future Farmers of America, and then there's Skills USA, there's Deca, there's HOSA for health careers, so these are all clubs or organizations that students join typically in high school, but a lot of times there's chapters in post-secondary colleges as well. And Skills USA in particular each school has a chapter if they so choose. And the students join as members and most people know Skills USA, it used to be called VICA back in the day, depending on when you were in high school. But they, the most people know Skills USA for the contest aspect. So Jo Jacob, you got to join us in Atlanta this past June and see the live action going on. And I strongly encourage, if you're serious about learning about skills, USA, please come to nationals. It's always in June. This upcoming year, it'll be the first week in June in Atlanta. You can learn more@skillsusa.org. but there you're gonna see, over a hundred different skill and leadership contests taking place. And those are high school and college and a little bit of middle school students competing at a national level in the skill area or leadership area of their focus in their school career. So it's really cool. Obviously we're focused on the cabinet making contest that takes place there. But before we get into that, I just wanna emphasize the leadership aspect because Skills USA is much more than just the contest. are the sexy, exciting part that draws students in. And certainly it's the, I would say the easiest probably way for us as industry to get involved and connect with Skills USA because we support those contests. But when a student is a member of a Skills USA chapter at their school, they're also learning they have a whole curriculum of their own that there's this framework that they learn about and it talks about leadership skills, workplace employability skills, all those things that you guys as employers say are most important. I hear it over and over again. You say, I can teach them the technical skills at work, but I need them to show up on time. I need them to know how to be a, a good team member and a good employee and, all of those things. So that is the important stuff that Skills USA is also imparting to these students and it part of their journey as skills USA members. So I just, I always try to take the opportunity to mention that because a lot of people don't realize that's happening in the background when all we see is the contest aspect.

Jacob Edmond

No, absolutely. Yeah. I got to go visit the national for the first time in June, and I've been in this industry for over 15 years and this is the first time I realized that it exists at that scale and obviously yes, it is much bigger than cabinet making and woodworking. There was houses being framed. There was welding, there was everything from healthcare to technology to, all this type of stuff. It was covering the full spectrum of Georgia World Congress, which if you've been to IWF, that's massive. And it was all high school and post-secondary trades, and there was also industry there, huge other industries there supporting their trades. There was the military, there was police, there was large car manufacturers and things like that. From what I took away from that was one, there is demand, there is talent being created and there are young people interested in the trades and there are young people learning things, valuable skills that are specific to our trade. And there is a void there, a vacuum to be filled, which is. With employers. That's what is needed. From what I took away was all of this, when you see like Amazon or you see the US Army, or you see any of these, Ford or Chevy or any of these huge industries or Boeing. They're spending a great amount of time and resources and that demand, it has to be met with something which is, okay, we have this huge need for talent. The schools and the education system are gonna rush to fill because they're trying to educate their people to go get jobs and they're gonna educate people for the jobs that are demanding talent. And so all of that to say that, the biggest need that, from my perspective that I see for our industry to fill this is employers. The companies out there, the people out there that need this, you have to put time and effort and resources into this and there's work already being done. There's frameworks, there's a lot of foundation already being built by Skills USA by AWI, by these high school tech programs, and even schools like Pitt State that are just begging to be capitalized on and begging for employers to say, Hey, we will take your students, we'll give them internships, we'll give them jobs and we'll show that there is demand for this. So that when you guys do the work of educating them and the more of those students that get hired and get gainful employment, the more other students are gonna see that and say, oh, there is a path, there's somewhere to go from this. I will follow suit as well. So I, sorry to jump on the soapbox, that's what I'm hoping, what I want to get to here is how can those that are listening to this. How can they get involved and what you've just spent the last 30 minutes is telling me all the different ways that AWI is putting efforts and resources into ways that ultimately is waiting for industry members to dive in and say, Hey, we wanna help with this. And because we see the need and we want to benefit from all this work being done.

Adria Salvatore

Oh my gosh, yes. Again, so many great things in what you just said. I could go in a million different directions. I'll try to focus. But yeah, I think Skills USA is a good example Of what you're saying it truly needs to be a partnership and it has to be at the company level, and it has to be with your local school, anything education related. AWI is a national organization, but we can't do anything without our members, all across the country, all across the world. In our case when it comes to education, setting aside, not getting political about the state of education in the US right now in the Department of Ed at the federal level. But really change happens with education at the local level, with the school. That's where you're gonna have the most impact. I know it sounds crazy and backwards because a lot of times people think you gotta do it nationally to have the biggest impact in some cases, like yes, that's true, but if it's, especially if you're looking to grow your workforce in your local area, for your economy, for your community, for your company it has to be at that local level. So Skills USA is a great partner in that, but also an example of how that looks and works. I mentioned the chapter, your skills, USA chapter at your local school, and then I talked about national, but I skipped the state part. The structure of skills USA is there's this national organization that oversees everything and runs the national champions event that takes place in Atlanta in June. But prior to that, each student qualifies at their state conference. And that's really where. industry could get much more involved. And that's where we need those employers. So we have a super tight team at Nationals that runs that cabinet making contest. I have to recognize and give props to Kent Gilcrest and Christine Cox and John Volpe, lead that technical committee that does everything at the national level. If you're interested in getting involved, it's a, it's a pretty serious task. But feel free to reach out to me and let's talk about it. But at the state level we want those states. That's where the students, they compete at their local level. They get to state and then it's just like the Olympics or anything else. Then they qualify and they get to nationals, and then they're representing their state at that point. But we want more employers involved at the state level that are running those contests. And when I say running, it's everything from the beginning to end. Developing the contest plans, identifying, procuring the material and the supplies and the equipment that's needed to create the contest. Finding the volunteers, the judges, the setup and tear down people that are needed. Finding the space in some cases, can it happen at your shop or is it happening at a school site or, whatever. So there's so many aspects just to every state. Cabinet making contest taking place. In the past year, we developed a directory. We're trying to find those state cabinet making contest coordinators. Sometimes they're called technical committee chairs. That's the technical terminology. But we're building that list and we have about a third of the states. We know the right contacts. If we don't, there's also the state director. So each state has its own director. They oversee all the contests. So sometimes it's hard to get the right information or find the right people reaching out to them, but that's another thing. Feel free that you can reach out to me. And we're trying to build that network because we want all the states to help the students prepare for the National competition to align their contests more with industry standards. There's a couple different purposes and values of being involved in Skills USA for the student. We want their experience to be top-notch essentially. And so we're trying to build out the resources so that can happen at the state level. So I mentioned before, you know, going to skills USA national conference and experiencing it firsthand like Jacob did. It's phenomenal. But also attending your state event, even if you're not sure or you don't know about the cabinet making contest, just seeing the breadth of all the different contests that are happening, seeing the energy, seeing the professionalism of your state Skills USA organization and how the students engage with it and the educators, their teachers. So it's very valuable. And I would say that's your first step in just understanding, okay, this is the kind of microcosm and then you can figure out how you would fit into that and how you could help out. But when you talk about, the educators being more involved Skills serves as a good example like that. But even outside of skills, let's say you don't have any schools near you that have a skills USA chapter, and that's a whole process to get into, but it's the same thing. It's that same formula of finding a school that has cabinet making or woodworking or something similar and just getting to know them, learning about them. Sometimes employers just wanna dive in and they don't fully understand the school's culture or, the resources that they have and their focus and all those things. And so it really, it's just like building any other relationship you need to learn. Listen and observe, and then that process you will find out the best way for you to be involved and engage with that school and how it can be beneficial for both of you.

Jacob Edmond

Yeah. Absolutely. And all of this is, believe it or not, still very much, grassroots in many ways. Like I know of many states at the state level there's industry members that are very involved in, California and Texas and North Carolina. I know of people involved in those, the state contest. And it's very much of, okay, we need to design a new project for this year that they're gonna build in cabinet making. And you have to actually make the drawings, the shop drawings, you have to get sources for all the materials, which are industry partners as well, of literally sheets of plywood and edge banding and hinges and slides and then people have to volunteer and the tools and resources. And ultimately if you have, like you said, if there's a school that you have in your neighborhood your region that isn't a partner. AWI has curriculum that is free to use available as well as people like yourself and Saul that I'm sure would be happy to jump on a call and, talk about, Hey, this is how we work with other schools and here's some connections we can connect you with that, have done this before, that you can use as a resource because all of those schools exist for, if you go talk to the heads of the departments or the instructors. All they are dying for an industry company like you to walk in and say, how can we help? How can we help your students? And how can we, influence what they're learning so that they can be gainfully employed and we want them to come and work for us. And so if there's people that are interested in this trade and we can help them learn the skills that we need. It's a win-win for everybody.

Adria Salvatore

Yes, absolutely. Aside from that Skills USA model like that it's a continuum. I would say there's several. Common approaches or ways that industry can engage with career tech ed programs. If you're not familiar with CTE in this context, it refers to career and technical education. And those are the sorts of programs that generally are, well by their definition, they are supposed to be aligned with industry needs and standards. A career tech ed program is going to be more likely to want to, and need to, by their definition, engage with local industry partners like you. So that engagement happens through events like plant tours. So if you are able to open your facility to bring students in to see what is happening in your company um, how it happens, that's incredibly effective very valuable experience for those students. In recent years, that's happened through Manufacturing Day, which is a national initiative. So whether you do it as a manufacturing day event or just an independent plant tour, Manufacturing Day as an organization, they did surveys with Deloitte and they found that. Something like 67 to 70% of students who attended a plant tour were more likely to consider, like seriously consider a career in that industry after the plant tour than they were before. So as far as that awareness piece and understanding our industry and what, the career paths are available, very, very effective. In addition to that, participating in advisory committees, so like Jacob mentioned, like having those conversations about what does your school need and how can I help you as an industry partner align with our industry needs and ensure that these students are learning what they really need to be successful in the workplace when they graduate? That happens at the advisory committee level. Those are normally meetings that take place two to three times a year at the school. And that's where you get to talk with the instructor and the department chair and those people at the school who are determining how the students learn. Then just being a guest speaker in the classroom, things like that. There's different ways and it is a continuum in that there's those dating level aspects where it's a kind of a light commitment for you. You could do it pretty easily. And then there's way more intensive activities. Like you could develop an internship program. We can even get into apprenticeships, which is really intense. That's kind of study, engaged, married, with the school. But, um, there's all sorts. Don't think that you need to do all of these things at once. Again, just go and find your school program and just ask, start asking questions, start observing, start learning, and through that process you'll find out, what they're capable of, and what's a good match for you guys.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome. For those that are listening, if they're, if, if, if you've been listening to this and, and you're amped up and you're motivated and you're like, okay, I wanna get involved. What is the best way for them to get started? How can they reach out or just look into who do I reach out to? Who do I contact? How, how can I just find out more and start to start the process? Who do I contact? How can I just find out more and start the process?

Adria Salvatore

Oh gosh. Um, well, I'm, I, I freely share my email. it kind of like you mentioned, it is a grassroots effort. So kind of my first questions will be, where are you, you know, what city are you near? I can help you find school programs. I don't wanna say Google. But sometimes, that is where we start for sure. But a lot of times, even if you find a program, then finding the right person at that program who understands and wants to connect with you um, is a whole thing. I mentioned that Skills USA directory, which I'm happy to share the link to. That's for the contest coordinators on skillsusa.org you can find the state directors very easily. But again, we're trying to find the people who are actually developing and running the cabinet making contest at each state. So if you're listening to this and you don't know about our list, you're not on it yet, then please reach out to me. We'd love to add you. You also talked about the project plans for Skills USA we have a library of plans from each state, like you mentioned, North Carolina and Indiana with Kent and California with us and stuff. So we're putting all those plans together, especially to help those states who don't have contests going yet, or just really need a little bit more refinement or support with their contests. So those are all freely available and we're just sharing with each other. So we can all elevate things together. So yeah, reach out to me. I would say, I know it's not a tidy answer, but I can help direct you depending on what resources you have available and where you are. And the conversation evolves like that, I would say.

Jacob Edmond

Awesome. So we'll link your contact information in the show notes, and that's definitely a great way to start. That's how, we've gotten connected through you. We've worked with the California state on their drawings each year, which has been, really exciting way to get involved and if you're involved in any of the other. State contests or looking at getting one started up and you need help with drawings for any of these things. Definitely reach out to Adria, myself. We'd love to help you out with those things, I think this is, more than anything, it becomes obviously a valuable initiative, but it's also a very rewarding initiative to get involved and really to start networking. And once, like you said, you break that ice of, reaching out, you start to meet a lot of really great people that are like-minded and trying to do the same thing, which is help move our industry forward as a whole.

Adria Salvatore

Yes, and I do wanna thank DuckWorks and you Jacob, for helping with California. That was super exciting to, To have you guys come onboard and help with that process. I think it's been a fun experience for your company and

Jacob Edmond

absolutely.

Adria Salvatore

I can't remember your employee's name who's been helping, but she's amazing. If you're a CAD guru and stuff, then that might be an easy thing, but for us in California, we were struggling. That's a really time intensive project because these are professional level project plans that we're sharing with the students. There's so many examples and ways in which the skills USA experience helps the students get introduced to our industry and professional cabinet making, it's not just we're giving'em plans for a birdhouse and, this sort of thing. These are like high level professional cabinets and that's reflected in the plans. And so these plans are like several pages long. They have the bill of materials which the students have to complete and all this. So having DuckWorks as a partner has been really fantastic in helping with that process.

Jacob Edmond

And if you're saying, Hey, I'd love to get involved, but I just don't have the time or the capacity. There's so many ways that could be helpful. If you have added stock of old hinges or sheet goods or things that could be used in the projects to, hey, if you're buying, new table saws and recycling the old ones, there are so many programs that could use tools and resources. Or it might even just be, hey, you being the resource that makes the connection between two parties that can can help. Adria, thank you so much for coming on and telling us about all the different ways that AWI is investing in education. All the great work you're doing and ways that people can get involved. We will link in the show notes everything you shared all these resources for anybody that's listening. So go to the show notes if you're looking for a link for anything that Adria referenced in this episode. If you're gonna be at AWI National. Look forward to seeing you there. And I know that Adria will be there ready to connect and answer any questions for anybody.

Adria Salvatore

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Jacob. It was really fun.

Jacob Edmond

Thank you, Adria.

Contributor

Jacob Edmond

Host