NORTH REGION
Al HerndonAn MAF Lunch and Learn was held in Jacksonville at the NEFBA Office. It was well attended and provided a platform for a masonry question and answer session.
Discussed continuation of PTEC Tampa apprenticeship program with Dr. Peter Berry
Participated in the Green Environment test top Henkels & McCoy Associates Administered via NCCER testing individuals that have completed the Green Environment & Core Curriculums.
Masonry Education Foundation conducted masonry training for the Department of Corrections masonry instructors at their Annual Training Conference in Orlando. Participating in the training were: Don Beers, Jerry Painter, John Lear and Al Herndon. Training included 3 days of Masonry Education for instructors. The MEF was asked to return to future DOC educational Conferences and all DOC masonry instructors have been invited to our semi annual MEF Train the Trainers.
A two and half day ICTP training was held in Gainesville for DOE and SantaFe College instructors. NCCER Master trainers were Dennis Neal and Al Herndon.
MEF conducted the largest Florida Skills Masonry contest in Florida’s history. There were 23 contestants. JD Giddens from the Tampa program and Cody Prescott from our Suwannee Pre Apprentice program will represent Florida in USA Skills in Kansas City in June 2010.
MEF is working with the ITEC School in Immokalee. A Registered
PreApprenticeship Program is being developed with Lely and ITEC schools for Construction Technology.
A two and half day ICTP Training for the instructors from Panhandle schools was help in Chipley. Curtis Green and Tanya Taylor were the Panhandle Master Trainers. This was the 26th ICTP training since 2005.
Al Herndon was appointed to the Nassau County School District Construction Advisory Board. Nassau County will be starting a stand alone masonry program for West Nassau High School.
The Director of the Sheriff Boys Ranch in Citrus County are working with Juvenile Justice to add masonry to their curriculum.
Volusia County School District under the MEF NCCER Sponsorship will begin using NCCER Curriculum at three of their schools in August 2010/ The three schools are: DeWitt Taylor, Deland HS and New Smyrna Beach HS. Approximately 250 students will be trained in Construction Technology. MEF will also conduct an ICTP Training in Daytona Beach in September for their instructors.
Conducted a 105 review for Dunnellon High School under the MEF NCCER sponsorship. They are approximately 150 students taking Construction Technology at this facility.
The Florida Skills Board meeting approved 475 students to go to Kansas City and represent Florida in USA Skills. Florida will have the largest group of students in the United States competing in this year's Career and Technical Education events.
The Osceola School District's three schools and 200 students are currently working under the MEF NCCER sponsorship for their Construction Technology program.
An ICTP Training was held in Immokalee in June 2010 at ITEC for instructors in the SouthWest Florida. Dennis Neal and Al Herndon were the trainers. Collier county school District has requested a second training in October or November 2010.
Dennis Neal and Al Herndon met to establish a OSHA 30 hour training at the University Of South Florida OSHA Training Institute for MEF NCCER Trained instructors. This certification will enable them to teach the OSHA 10 course to their students. This training will be in October 2010.
OSHA Training Institute has requested the MEF train their instructors using the ICTP NCCER training. Under MEF/NCCER sponsorship a curriculum will be established.
Dennis Neal, Jerry Smith and Al Herndon conducted an ICTP Training for the Dade County School District which is the fourth largest school district in America.
The Perkins Grant Division of the Department of Education will pay for all DOE Instructors Certifications. Since 2005, MEF, Dennis Neal and Al Herndon have trained 304 instructors with the NCCER ICTP and we have trained 41 instructors in the OSHA 30 Hour Course totaling 345 instructors trained in Florida by the masonry industry.
Al Herndon and Pat McLaughlin attended the Commissioner of Education Recognition Award banquest in Tampa on June 17. The MEF was one of 80 Businesses recognized for contributions to improving the academic success of Florida Students. The MEF was recommended by the Saint Johns County School District, as recipients of the 2010 Business Partner of the Year Award for SJC.
The 2010 USA Skills Conference was held in Kansas City. Florida had two students, JD Giddens from Tampa and Cody Prescott from Live Oak representing Florida in the largest Masonry Contest in Skills History (54 masonry students). Mr. Giddens finished 7th in the Nation out of 20 Post Secondary Students ( apprentices ) and Cody Prescott finished 16 in the Nation out of 34 Secondary students ( High School ).
Florida had a mason student compete in the National Team Build Contest, a team of a Mason, Carpenter, Electrician and a Plumber who builds a scaled down front of a house. This is a two day event and Suwannee Tech from Live Oak won the National Gold Medal.
A Georgia high school student that also competes in Florida at the Masonry Showcase finished 7th in the Nation as a Secondary student from Camden HS in Saint Mary’s Georgia. In the National contest we had 7 students that the MEF assisted with trained.
One of the highlights of the competition was an industry sponsored lunch for the students on Wednesday June 23. Pat McLaughlin, Executive Director of MEF & MAF was the Keynote speaker. Pat's presentation was well received as he gave the students the reasons they should continue to pursue their careers in masonry. The presentation included various masonry buildings built in Florida and across the United States. Pat emphasized the trade of masonry as an art.
