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WBC PODCAST
WBC PODCAST
APRIL 28, 2026 #013 M.SIMPSON/K.PARRIS (SLICE OF P.I.E)
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In this episode of Talkin’ Grit, M. Simpson sits down with K. Parris to talk about the P.I.E. Graduation what the program is, how it supports students, and the impact it has. K.Parris also shares his journey and how he got to where he is today.
From the job site to the office, from lessons learned to stories worth telling, this is Talking Grit, brought to you by Wright Brothers. Here's your host, Jared Walger.
SPEAKER_03Hey, we're back with some fresh content for Talking Grit. And we're going to get into a conversation today about the Pie Center graduation that just happened. And Mitchell, let's get into this. Let's kind of break this down so everybody knows something that happens annually that has been a really cool part of what the company does as far as investing in the community and recruiting young guys to be part of what we do. And it's just been a just a really cool process seeing the growth of the Pi Center through the years. So let's let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the Pi Center is phenomenal, right? So we've been blessed to be involved with Bradley County schools over the past six years. Pi Center stands for partnership with industry and education. Right. Right. And Dr. Linda Cash had a vision that she wanted to bring back vocational trades here in Bradley County. You know, everybody doesn't need to think that if you don't go to college, you can't make a great living. That simply is not true. Not true.
SPEAKER_03And she had to fight tooth and nail for that. Isn't that crazy, though? It is. She had to sell that vision, raise the funds.
SPEAKER_01People didn't believe her. People didn't believe her. But now, you know, guess what? Six years later, you know, Wright Brothers was the first group there to be in the Pie Center. Right. To volunteer and say, hey, we want to be part of that. Everybody in the county wants to show up and say, hey, I had my part in this. Right. It's funny how that's. Why wants to take credit now? Yep. Yep. But, you know, it's a cool thing to see the Pi Center and see what happens there. You know, it really falls in with what we're trying to do this year. You know, improve, invest, measure. And you can see that in those graduates, right? Yeah. You can see that in those graduates. You can see you can see how we invested in them. You can see how they improved, and you can measure that. Right. You can measure that. That's a pretty cool deal. That's a pretty cool deal. I'm proud that I work for an organization where we're willing to invest in the community like that. Absolutely. Me too. Yeah. I mean, it's a good thing. So let's talk about the program yesterday, Jared. So we had this program. We had all sorts of people show up. How many graduates did we have?
SPEAKER_03We had 18 graduates. Now two of them were juniors, so they're going to actually repeat their senior year, which is we have that's can be pretty common at times because they we welcome juniors because we get more time with them. And if we get them as a junior, they're gonna take it their senior year because they love it.
SPEAKER_01So so we've done this six years now, right? Right, six graduating classes. Right. So you're saying the juniors, how many times have we had that where kids have been in that all the way through that cycle a couple times in a row?
SPEAKER_03That's that's pretty new because at first it was just seniors. Yeah. And so about a year ago, we opened it up to juniors because as we evaluated it, we're like, you know, it would benefit us to have more time with some of these guys. And, you know, so that's that's probably been about a year and a half in the making, but we're seeing a trend where, you know, if a junior comes, they're gonna stay, which means we get more compound time, which means we get a better prepared guy afterwards. And it I think it really showed up in this graduating class because we had guys that had been around longer. Yeah, yeah, good kids, good younger.
SPEAKER_01Really good kids. So we how many kids do you think we've had in these past six years?
SPEAKER_03Do you remember past six years? We have had a hundred and six graduates come through the program. And then how many of those have come to work at Right Brothers? So we've extended offers to 84 total. 84 out of 106. 84 out of 106. And of the 84, how many still work here? Right now, after these 10 are hired in, it'll be 34 that are still working for the company. Now we stay usually at a retention rate of anywhere at you know throughout the year of 25 to 35 percent, depending on hires and departures. Yeah. And of course, that always fluctuates. But there's at this point, there's a multitude of of young men that have worked for the company for a season. So, you know, anywhere from two to three months to two to three years. And we're at this point now where we've got guys that have been in the company for years that are starting to rise up in leadership. You've got your Dylan Jenkins and your Reston Lawsons and operators out there, and guys like Baylor Moreland that are becoming foremen, you know. So it's now you're starting to see the impact.
SPEAKER_01It's well worth the investment. And even those that don't stick here, you know, they see our culture, they see who we are, and they take it and they go on to live their life. And, you know, they're impacting the community.
SPEAKER_03Um hands down. Impacting the community. You know, it's so much more than just you know the skills. We our focus is train the head, train the hands, train the heart. Yeah. And that heart part is is vital. And every one of these guys come away with this idea of like, man, I love Wright Brothers. That's a great company. And even if they're going off to school or they feel like, hey, I'm not ready to try construction, a lot of times we see them coming back around, filter back in. But if anything, they've just got a deep respect for the company. Yeah. And they carry that. And that to me is is huge in and of itself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I think, you know, respect for the company, I think they've also got a respect for the industry. Absolutely. And, you know, I think something that has helped around here is by doing the Pie Center. I think that in general, the county, our community, I think they've got a bigger respect for what we do as an industry. We get a bad rap as an industry at Tyrate, I think. Sure. You know, when I was a kid and I was growing up, there was the push that everybody had to go to college. And it's good to see that that's now turning around. But over time, you know, I think our I think our industry's gotten a bad rap that it just simply hasn't deserved.
SPEAKER_03Right. And this helps fight the that perception because if anything, you know, somebody that comes through this program is going to see the world different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_03They're they're when they're driving, they're seeing what's happening on the road different. And right. What's great with you know, before we head into the the rest of this, you wanted to mention this with a program that Wright Brothers has invested in in partnership with the school system. And because Wright Brothers has intentionally made it excellent, it's being studied by the state of Tennessee. That's right. So we won an award for being a flagship partner, um, industry partner in the state, which is a distinguished award uh that Wright Brothers received from the state of Tennessee. And now the the Department of Education is studying our model to be like, hey, they're doing something right. How can we learn from what Wright Brothers is doing and help other trade and education programs get better? So if anything, it just shows that we're we're on the right track. It can always get better, but we're on the right track.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's pretty cool how many people come through our county to actually look at what's happened at the pie center. Right. You know, a few weeks ago, had the chance to talk to Congressman John Rose. He's running for governor for the state of Tennessee. He came through Bradley County and he he stopped here and talked to us for a few minutes. And you know why he was coming to Bradley County that day? What's that? He wanted to see the pie center.
SPEAKER_04Really?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he was coming down there to see the pie center. Makes sense. Makes sense, right? Got a good thing going on. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, I I I it's just it's amazing the reach that that has had and the impact it's had.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So, you know, if if you're listening and you're part of the company and you're out there and it's like, what's the pie center? I've never heard of that. If you happen to come swing through Cleveland, give me an email or a phone call. We'll we'll set up a tour, we'll take you through it because you need to see it. Yeah, you need to be proud of what your company has done to invest in the future of the trade industry and in young lives.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's right. Yeah. So, hey, let's talk about this program we did yesterday. Look, excellent program. It was just fabulous. There was so many people that worked behind the scenes to make that an excellent program. Jared, who who all helped with that program? We got to give them a shout out for that.
SPEAKER_03Oh man, it it takes a lot of people putting this on, you know, from Kelly Roan and Caitlin Roan to Xandra to I think most of the ladies in the office at some point had a hand in helping move things in and decorate. I mean, you know, from the the aesthetics of the building side of it, calling caterers and the setup of this and that. It takes a village, yeah, and uh a lot of people involved, and then the guys chipping in, helping out. You've got Brady and Kyler, you know, it's there's a lot of I want to start forgetting names if I start calling them all out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but bottom line, first class event. You know, we had school board there, we had county commission there, we had the county mayor there. You know, law enforcement, law enforcement there, we had all sorts of people there. Of course, everybody's running for political office right now. Oh, yeah, yeah. They all had to get their, you know, funny thing, I kind of got a chuckle while we were there, Jared. You know, we have the county mayor sitting there, and then we have the guy that's running against him sitting there, you know. When I saw those two plop down next to each other, I kind of got a chuckle because I saw a little uncomfortable moment there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And and kind of a funny, funny thing, I caught wind of this. There's somebody that was running for elected office that snuck in and found out about the graduation from one of our students and and slipped in. She showed up so she could have her photo up. Exactly. And posted on Facebook yesterday. No, it it's become kind of a weird who's who in Cleveland, and it's you know, it is what it is, you know, in in that sense. But it's an excellent event, right? Right. It's an excellent event.
SPEAKER_01It's a desirable one for people to come to it. So we started out, you started with some opening remarks. What did you talk about? Just give everybody a quick overview.
SPEAKER_03So, really, you know, just giving a charge to the guys, I mean it's a milestone in their life, and you know, just what's next. And letting these guys know it's like, yeah, you're getting through high school, but man, you're just getting started in life. So these next few years, you need to handle them carefully. So I talked to them about, you know, surrounding themselves with wisdom. You know, find older, wiser people to speak into your life, realizing you don't know it all, and that you need people that have been there, bought the t-shirt, you know, got their tail kicked by life to prove it, and got some stories to say, you know, hey, here's some things to look out for. So keeping wisdom around their life on the importance of saving their money. Told them live small, save big. You don't need that brand new truck right now. You don't need to buy those guns. You don't need to buy that that boat. It's gonna be tempting when those paychecks start rolling in. You get that overtime going. But but live small, save big, plan for the future, have somebody coaching you up on your money. Told them, hey, you got to surround yourself with the right people, be careful who your friends are. If you know you got somebody that's trying to live out the lyrics of a Morgan Wallins song every weekend, it's gonna be trouble. You know, no home, man. Yeah, no fear. No, well, I mean, we've got stories to prove that like that's not the wisest thing to do, you know. And if you're surrounding yourself with people that are living like that, then you're inviting trouble into your life. So just be careful with who you hang out with. And then told them, you know, don't buy the lie that you have to live intimidated, you have to live limited, intimidated, and with low expectations. You know, don't limit yourself. You don't know what's in you at this point. Don't be intimidated, and no matter what label's been put on you or you know, family history or mistakes, you know, don't let that intimidate you. Move forward and and have excellent expectations for your life. Don't settle. There's a lot of young adults, and when I say this, people are gonna come to mind for a lot of people listening. There's a lot of you know, guys in particular in their late teens and 20s that their whole life, they're content with just having enough money. They were gonna work a job where they have to do as little as possible. Yeah, they're gonna get a paycheck and they're gonna maybe pay some rent, buy some weed, get their fried chicken, and have their subscriptions for Netflix and Xbox Live, and and they're content with their life like that. And I'm telling these guys, it's like there's more in you than this. So expect something great from yourself and work hard for it, dude.
SPEAKER_01That that that's just a good word for all of us, right? Yeah, for everybody. Expect more. Yeah, surround yourself with good people, push yourself, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we got a generation that's underachieving. Amen, dude. They're underachieving, and there's more so much, capable so much, so much.
SPEAKER_01But that's that was kind of the gist of of my talk. Yeah, good word. And then, you know, I got to talk after that. I had the unenviable position of talking after you. You do such a good job talking. You know, I get up there and I try to talk after that. And for the record, you know, we we we're changing this in the program next year. I'm talking first, you're after me. I've had to do this to talk behind you two to three years.
SPEAKER_03I can't, it's a preacher in me, man. I, you know, it was just years of just having to rattle stuff off on a dude. I despise talking after you.
SPEAKER_01You do a good job. I appreciate it. So then, you know, I got up there and I said a few words, but here's the big thing I I pointed out to him. It's a Bible verse I just want to read here for everybody here. Colossians 3 23. We're told, whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not people. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not people. You know, that means whether you're grading road, pouring concrete, leading the crew, you're in the ditch, whatever you're doing. Your work has purpose. Your work has purpose. Excellence isn't just a call in the goal, it's a calling. Right. You know, what we're doing here, it matters. It does. It matters. And you know, cool thing. I've said this before, you know, if we get a chance to see what we build every day. Right. Get a chance to look at it, get a chance to be proud of it. You know, we do good stuff. We do good stuff. I love that you use scripture in that, and that it's an environment where you can. Yeah, I mean, that's that's cool. Great thing about where we live. And then, you know, after that, you know, we had a few other people talk. We had a friend of the organization, Sheriff Steve Lawson, great guy. Does a great job, cares for our community. Yep. He showed up, he talked, always gives a good word. County mayor Gary Davis came in, he gave a word, and then Dr. Linda Cash. Look, she's just she does a great job. We're blessed to have her in Bradley County.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and she kind of cut loose with her speech. I mean, just laid it out there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh you know, I've seen her talk a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Might be one of her best, best conversations I've ever seen. I think so too.
SPEAKER_03It was, it was just real and just to the point. It was real. Telling the kids to, you know, her main point was read your Bible and pray.
SPEAKER_01And I'll tell you though, this, you know, we talk about the Pi Center and how she was really driving force behind that and how she made it happen. I I have a huge amount of respect for that lady because yesterday in particular, at that conversation, at that point in time, she did not take credit for it. Yeah. Who'd she give credit to, Jerry? She gave it to God. She didn't take credit at all. Nope. Yeah. She can absolutely carry that banner. If anybody could say, look at what I did. Mm-hmm. She didn't do it. No, she gave it all to God. Ton of respect for her. Ton of respect for her. So, you know, after that, then you know, we got the opportunity to transition to the kids, right? We got talking about the kids, and you know, this year, as you're taking on a new role here at Wright Brothers, you're then the training guy. You're trying to make sure we're training all of us up like we need to. You've kind of started handing the baton over to Kyler. Right. So Kyler's now the guy. So, Kyler, you're here on the podcast today. Appreciate you being here. You know, give us give us a download about who you are, where you came from. Tell us how you got to where you're at.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, thank you for having me on today. I was a Pi Center graduate myself in the fall of 2021. Went through the class, graduated in that spring. So fall of 21, was that the second class? It was a second class. Second class. You had Dylan and Preston and that first group, and then me and Luke neighbors. And no, Luke was the flat fall and spring.
SPEAKER_03Right. You were with Brody Stone.
SPEAKER_04Brody Stone and Brady Harris, those guys. Yeah. But after I graduated, I went straight to working with uh Bryson Riddle on the paving crew. Yep. We we paved uh actually my first job was I-75 right here in Charleston. Awesome. Yep, and then we quickly transitioned to Murphy where we spent about three months, probably two or three months up there, paved about 32 miles.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so that was a blessing. We kind of had a dip in work here around Chattanooga, Cleveland for a minute, and we got a great relationship with CRH. Our friends with CRH, they had more work than they knew what to do with in Murphy. And they said, hey, we'll make the asphalt mix, you guys come pave. And you said 32 miles.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it was a I think it was like an eight-mile stretch, about four lanes.
SPEAKER_01Four lanes. I mean, you paved everything around Murphy, North Carolina on 64.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, from the time you cross the bridge till you get past the Walmart on the other side of the casino there.
SPEAKER_01So Yeah. It was a good job. Yeah. NC DOT was super happy with that. Right. And, you know, just going down history so everybody knows, that is the second time that Rock Brothers has paved in North Carolina. The first time we paved in North Carolina, we worked with our friends at CRH again, and we went all the way to the center part of the state and paved over there around Ashboro, North Carolina. Really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So we've done it a couple of times now, and every time we've done that, you know, DOT's been super happy with that, NC DOT. Awesome. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Well, I I worked all the way up until that following August after I graduated high school and decided to that I was going to go play football at Tennessee Tech and was going to major in civil engineering and did did about a year there and realized that that four-year college scene wasn't necessarily for me. So I decided to come back home.
SPEAKER_01What position did you play?
SPEAKER_04Tied end.
SPEAKER_01Tied in. Okay. Now which high school did you go to here?
SPEAKER_04I went to Walker Valley.
SPEAKER_01Okay. You were at Walker Valley. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. We had a pretty good team, yeah. Yeah. But got through all that mess. Came back home 2023, April 2023. Came back to Wright Brothers. Went back to working with Bryson. Worked all over. You're a glutton for punishment. The Chad Nooga to Charleston, everywhere in between North Georgia. I mean, paved a little bit of everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you know, shout out to that paving crew. Yeah. Great crew. Yeah. Tight knit crew. Those guys are awesome. Yeah, those guys are awesome.
SPEAKER_04I think we put like a hundred thousand tons in I-24 while I was working with them. So and then I was with them for about two years, and then Jared called me and asked if I wanted to come join the training team for the Pi Center. Yep. So I decided to go ahead and make that transition. That was January of 25. So been here about a year and a half.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and that and that was an interesting transition because I I kind of messed that up. Brody had been with us for a while, and you know, incredible guy. And he had some plans that he wanted to put into place as far as starting his own business. And he made his exit. And I was like, okay, you know, lay of the land. I got some some options with guys that you know would love to hire, you know, a guy to help assist the program that had been through the program again. Yep. Somebody that knows it. Somebody that knows it, looking at it as like Kyler's got the leadership, he's got some, you know, the field experience, super well connected in the community, knows everybody. His dad's a teacher at Walker Valley. So he just fit the profile. And I kind of messed up the process by calling Kyler and seeing if he was interested. Yeah, I did. And man, I tell you, I I learned a hard lesson talking to Bryson. If you're listening, man, I I apologize before. I'm doing it again. But I will tell you this I have never been so artfully reprimanded by somebody than when I talked to Tony Bowles. Yeah. It was like a work of art. It was halfway through it. I was taking notes. He's good at it. And uh, you know, when he was done, I was like, you know, I wanted to be like, thank you, sir. That that hurt really bad, but I I learned a lesson, you know. And so, but you know, think thankfully to them, they released Kyler and we moved forward. But he's been an incredible addition to the team.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So, Kyler, you've been doing this now for Three semesters? Yes, that's correct. Yeah, so three semesters. Now, in the background, while you're doing this, you've had some life stuff happen, right? Right. Got married.
SPEAKER_04Yep. September last year. Got married. Got a kid. Yeah. And just had a baby February 13th of this year.
SPEAKER_01So she's been two and a half months old. I keep giving you a hard time about sleeping because I know not at I know your your little girl, she's going to start teething. It's going to work out good.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we're probably a month or two out from teething, hopefully. But she's been a she's been a blessing, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, good times, man. Yeah. And then you're also working on your education. So tell everybody what you're working on right now.
SPEAKER_04Well, currently I'm working on finishing my associates through Columbia Southern University online and occupational safety and health. And then I plan on doing a uh accelerated bachelor bachelor's program through Western Governors University. And it'll probably be through business because that's what they've got available, really. Yeah. But it's one of those things where I can I can pay a flat rate and you can do it as fast as you can to just hammer down on classes and get it done.
SPEAKER_01So hey, I'm proud of you for continuing to push your education. You know, that's that's one of those things we talked about at the Pi Center yesterday for those guys that are graduating. Hey, continue to learn. Yeah. Continue to learn. Proud, proud of you being the example to those guys that, hey, I'm continuing to learn, I'm still trying, I'm still growing. Good for you.
SPEAKER_04The first the first step to wisdom is realizing you don't know anything at all. So you think yeah.
SPEAKER_03And it's awesome that students have platforms now where you can do it while you're working, which is cool. Right. And I know it's a hustle for you, you know, on that, you know, you're stretching yourself and and managing your time and balancing it, but you know, it's it's awesome to to see you just, you know, pushing forward with that. And it's gonna, you know, it it pays off in the long run, you know, with what you're adding to who you are and your leadership and knowledge base, you know. And it's great that education's finally started to figure it out. It's like, well, let's make this adaptable to real life while you're working.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, that you know, really how education is today, that's one of those good things that came out of COVID. Right. I know post-COVID, everybody figures out that you ain't gotta sit in a classroom for forever to try to learn something. Right. I mean, that's kind of blowed up the secondary education in colleges and everything. And they're really trying to have to figure out how to adapt. But it's a great platform for people to learn now. Oh, absolutely. So you can do it while you're doing real life. Yeah, you can live your life without putting it on hold for four years and going to school. Right. Nothing wrong with that. Right. But I did that, but hey, if I could have done a different way, I may have done it a different way.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I I 100% would have. But it wasn't available when we were coming in. No, it wasn't.
SPEAKER_04I I seen a statistic the other day. It said pre-COVID, United States voters voted it was like 52% of the voters voted that it was worth going to a four-year institution before entering the workforce. And this year was the first year that it's been flipped. So it's like 54% of voters believe it's not worth the money to go to a four-year institution rather than going working somewhere and working online through college or whatever. Yeah, I get it. Makes sense. Yeah, makes sense.
SPEAKER_01I mean, look, I went I went to the University of Tennessee, and I can tell you right now, the highlight of my time being at the University of Tennessee had zero to do with education. It was Tennessee winning the national championship in 1998. Right, what a ton. Football. You know, that was that was the highlight and had zero to do with me being up there, beating my brains in, trying to make grades. So yeah. Good move, Kyler.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because college can turn into a pretty expensive party. Oh, it's terrible. And I wasn't even partying, but anyway, it's it it's just hard. It's just hard to sit there and put your life on hold. Right. Right. So, you know, we graduate these kids, right? How many kids we got? How many did you teach this year, Kyler? What's the makeup of them? What what do you think they're going to do with their lives?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so we've got eight team that came through the program this this year. So that's including this past fall and the spring. We had 11 guys that were returning. So they took the class in the fall and decided they wanted to take it again in the spring. So that's really good participation. Right. We we have two juniors out, like Jared said earlier. They'll be returning with us next year, but 10 is signing on full time. Awesome. And we're looking at three guys potentially going to North Carolina, two going to Alabama, one or two going to WIG, maybe a shop intern. So they're kind of spread out across the board. So we're we're really spreading everybody out. Yeah, we're trying to find places where we can stick these guys that will they f they will fit instead of just kind of throwing to the wolves.
SPEAKER_02That's good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because it's about, you know, we want to, and this is always the constant battle of of retention, you know, and there's a lot in play when you've got an 18-year-old, you know, starting to work, leaving home. You know, there's a lot of questions. There's still family involved. There's a a lot of variables. There should be. Yeah. So can we find the right fit? Can we find, you know, something that they're going to be passionate about? Can we, you know, it's it's it's a little bit of a puzzle trying to put that together, but we got a good group of willing guys that I think they're gonna do great. Looking forward to seeing what what happens with them as they're they're moving forward for sure.
SPEAKER_01So what schools were those guys from this past year, Kyler?
SPEAKER_04About half of them were from Bradley Central and half of them were from Walker Valley.
SPEAKER_01Now we're we're reaching out to Polk County now too, right? We we're trying to make some inroads there to pull that school system in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and we've had I think four to five Polk County students involved in the program in the past. They just didn't have anybody that they were available to send this past school year. Okay. And so for them, it just kind of comes, you know, if if they have students that they can send, they will. But they're overall working on a partnership with the Pi Center. In Polk County's unique because they have some Polk County students that actually live in Bradley County. And a lot of times it turns into an issue of the commute. Students that are available, yeah, they join the program, and we've had that in the past. And so sometimes they're there, sometimes they're not, but we welcome all of our Polk County students.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, the Pi Center, we're really trying to grow that regionally. You know, we're trying to pull in the Polk County kids. I know at one point in time Dr. Cashew talked to Megs County. Right. And we've had a couple Megs County students. We have. I know that's a little bit further drive, but you know, you've had the opportunity to talk to Jeff Ball, right, about Western North Carolina, Jared. You and Jeff are trying to figure that out. Right. Care to tell everybody what we're trying to do there.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so you know, as the company expands and there's there's more work, which means there's going to be a deeper need for recruiting, it just makes sense to create recruiting pools in areas where the work is expanding to. So when you're talking about that Asheville area, you know, we're looking at planning a program in Madison County, near Buncombe County, and to be able to work with that school system and create a program that will feed the work that's going there and develop young recruits to be able to service uh that area and beyond. And so we're in talks with the school system. It'll probably start with uh just one or two summer programs, depending on how quickly the school can work, but that that's not gonna stop us because we can go and still gather recruits and we can put on a really good program. Almost think kind of like a a boot boot camp kind of style condensed version of the Pi Center. So, you know, two weeks worth of you know eight to ten hour days just pumping these guys full of information and reps and safety and leadership talks and drinking from a fire hydrant. Yeah, but getting them ready to a place where they could join a crew and there not be such shock and awe when they get there, so that you know, mentally and they're understanding they're they're ready to walk into a job setting and hopefully at that point be productive and can get started and get going. Yeah, and so we're working on that recruiting process to fill that out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the goal is just to train these guys up to where they can be successful when they launch out into life and a construction career. Right. You know, be safe, be successful, know what you're doing. Because look, in the world we live in, it's not how I grew up, not how you grew up. I mean, people don't work with their hands anymore. No. People are inside more, they're not outside, they're not out doing. So we've got to look at it a different way.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And you know, I think there's a hunger in the young generation for that. Learn how to do hard things. Yeah. They've been attached to a screen for so long that I think there's a growing number of, especially guys that that want to do something, that want to learn things and recognizing the need to do something physical and do something where they're problem solving and and crafting, and and because I think that's just part of the human nature that's been, yeah, especially with this generation, that's just been stifled.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And no wonder you got all this anxiety and depression and all this kind of stuff. It's like, man, they got to have some purpose. Yeah, they've got to get that energy out. So I think programs like this are gonna be so healthy and helpful, give these guys an outlet and a purpose bigger than themselves to attach themselves to and get to work.
SPEAKER_01So cool thing about Madison County, North Carolina, you know, Wright Brothers has been blessed to be over there in North Carolina for about 30 years. One of the larger projects that we ever had over there was build an I-26 in Madison County. Wow. Yeah. Moved 10 million yards of excavation, built an I-26 between Tri-Cities down to Asheville. Okay. So that was a I think that was the first job. I think that was the first job in North Carolina, massive job. And then Madison County, you know, look, we've had so many great people that have worked for Wright Brothers over the years from Madison County. Shout out to a few of them that live there today. You know, Jeff lives there, Tanya lives there, Joey Pegg, Brandon Lewis, that whole crew, you know, all those guys from Madison County, what great people. Oh, there's a there's just a desire amongst that group of people just to do excellent work. Yeah. I mean, they're the they're the people that help build Western North Carolina, that county right there. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_03And it's so cool. The depth of relationship when you stay in an area and you know everybody, it matters. And it's uh it's such a powerful thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and you know, we get this opportunity in Madison County right now because Jeff knows the director schools. Right. Right. He he makes a phone call. They went to high school with them. Yeah. And because of that, you know, we want to plant the flag over there just like we have here in Bradley County.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. And we're gonna do it, and it's gonna be excellent and keep this thing rolling forward.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Well, Kyler, thanks for coming on today. Thanks for having the conversation about the Pi Center. Appreciate you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thanks for everything you're doing. And Jared, thanks for your continued support of the Pi Center. Absolutely love it. Yeah, good stuff, man. Good stuff.
SPEAKER_03So let's let's wind this one up. Yeah. Well, thanks again for tuning in to Talk and Grit. Tune in next time. We got great content coming week after week after week. Send us a note, send us some feedback at podcast at wbccci.com. Tune in next time.
SPEAKER_00That's gonna do it for this episode of Talk and Grit. Thanks for listening and thanks to everyone out there putting in the work day in and day out. If you liked what you heard, be sure to follow the show and share it with someone who knows the value of hard work. We'll catch you next time right here on Talking Grit.