5 cities, 7 programs, 1 goal

By Emma Peterson.

Learn how Tremco Rising Stars program is building the future of the roofing industry.  

Tremco takes pride in going beyond providing high-performance solutions for the building envelope and supporting construction professionals in a variety of ways. A great example of this is their Rising Stars program which aims to address the labor shortage by introducing roofing as a career to the next generation. To talk about this program, David Hutchinson from Tremco stopped by for an episode of Roofing Road Trips®.

David is at the forefront of the program, as he shared, “I'm on a plane or a train every day of the week. At this point, I have a lot of frequent flyer miles. I travel to help facilitate the different programs.” These programs are uniquely designed for the needs of each community they are in. For example, some locations utilize community centers that draw young people from the area to them, others are based directly in schools. There are still similarities across all the programs. David explained, “Each program is one day a week, and typically when we're in the school, we start the fall of their senior year and carry them all the way to graduation.”  

During the nine months that the program works with these students, they aim to give them a variety of experience and knowledge about the industry. David explained, “We try and make sure that we're mixing it up while providing that information, almost through osmosis. What I mean by that is having a presenter talk about something, like architecture, and then having a trades person talk about careers in this trade and then doing it with the students. We try and make sure that all the lesson learning is tied to an activity that they can really have in the real world.” In addition to connecting the classroom to the real world, Tremco aims to make the real world a classroom for their Rising Stars students. David elaborated a bit on this, sharing, “We're not always just in the classroom. We're going to job sites, we're going to different factories, we're seeing the industry out where it should be because the construction industry doesn't happen in the classroom. The only way you're going to actually understand what you're getting into is going on a roof when it's 20 degrees or going on a roof when it's 90 degrees.”

And having the program run through the students’ entire senior year not only gives them the best opportunity to learn, but it also gives David time to help them find placements and career paths that suit their talents. He explained, “I want to make sure when I'm recommending or I'm thinking about placement that I have a really good understanding of not only the likes and dislikes, but the skills and the abilities of these young people. You have to really get to know them and build trust with them to do that. Having nine months means that when I tell them, 'Hey, this is the path I think is the best fit,’ they know I'm doing it from a point of interest and a point of care and not just to fill a spot or to fill a quote.”

Read the transcript or Listen to the full episode for more information about the Tremco Rising Stars program!