Career Pathways

Dave Patti, Chairman of Berks Business Education Coalition, sits down with Sarah Phillips and Amy Garber to discuss career pathways. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Hi, welcome. I'm Dave Patty with Customers Bank and also the chair of the Burks Business Education Coalition. The Burks Business Education Coalition brings together, as the words imply, the business community and educators so that we can better prepare our children in Berks County for the careers that lie ahead. And today I'm delighted to be talking to a teacher, to actually have some education and business, have a conversation. One of the things that we very much all care about is how do our young people find a career pathway? How do they explore careers? How do they learn more about, you know, these are the prerequisites, the courses I need to take, maybe the post-secondary education I need. So with us today is Amy Garber. Amy is the ag science teacher at the Topah Hawken High School. Uh and and she herself went through some of that education. We're gonna talk about that. Uh but every teacher is a superhero. So I told I told Amy we're gonna get her origin story today, and uh and then later meet someone else who happens to be her sister, who's in construction, and then bring the the the conversation together about uh career pathways. But but Amy, welcome. Thank you for being with us.

SPEAKER_03 1:30

Oh, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Just let's start with with how long have you been a teacher at at Topaha or how long have you been a teacher total?

SPEAKER_03 1:37

I'm actually a second career teacher. So I started um teaching in 2022. This is actually my fifth year teaching at Topahaken.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

And prior to teaching?

SPEAKER_03 1:46

Prior to teaching, I was a farmer. So I ran uh about 150 acres of crops, we had a horsebording facility and a cow calf herd.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

All right. So so when when you say I'm teaching ag science, it comes from authenticity of you don't just teach ag science, you live ag science. Absolutely. But help help us to understand what exactly is ag science?

SPEAKER_03 2:08

Uh agriculture has a lot of science in it. It's based in science. So agriculture science could be anything from soil science to animal science to veterinary science to learning uh about plants, um, aquap aquaculture, field crops, um, and then into ag mechanics and the technology and science of engines and equipment and all of that. So it's huge.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Sure. And and and politicians like to say agriculture is Pennsylvania's number one industry.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

It does.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

That's keeping in you know putting into their food and and and food production and everything. Yes. But certainly very important, very fundamental. And in Berks County, as long as there's been in Berks County, there has been a huge ag business uh presence here.

SPEAKER_03 2:47

Oh yes. Ag is actually um the biggest economic factor in Berks County as well.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

So how many of our schools? We have 18 school districts, eighteen public school districts. Yes. How many have an ag science program?

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Oh, that's a good question. I'd have to look uh look them up. Actually, we're just adding more this year. Skoka Valley is new, uh, Brandywine is adding an ag program, um, and then we have Conrad Weiser, Cuttstown, Topahawkin, uh, and Oli.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

So fascinating. So while agriculture has always been important to us, maybe to some degree we're rediscovering and bringing it back into our schools.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Um and and and and you know, so you were a farmer. Are most of the young people who take ag science courses farm families?

SPEAKER_03 3:29

No, not anymore. Most kids that take ag courses have no connection to ag other than what the food they eat.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

That's fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 3:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

Um so and and and it is it is as you said, it it's it's everything from horticulture and aquaculture through the traditional farming that we think about. Yes. So so so much broader.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

And it's getting their attention. That's great. Now, how were you yourself trained and educated to be a farmer and then later to be an ag science teacher?

SPEAKER_03 3:57

Well, um, we grew up on a dairy farm. So farming um and agriculture was in our life from birth. Uh we grew up milking Jersey cows, and we actually went to another school district that did not have an ag program. And we found that when I say we, I'm talking about myself and my two sisters, found that our passions were in ag and anything we were doing at home and working so hard at, whether it be through 4-H or with our animals, or we were very um active in showing our horses and things like that, it didn't, we didn't uh connect that in any way to school. Uh and then we found a program, and it so happened to be at Topahawkin High School, that had an agriculture program where some of the things we were doing at home and we were passionate about we could actually learn about in school and use it for school credit. Um and we transferred schools, and that's when I went to Topahawk in 11th grade, and my sisters both went in ninth and went ninth through twelfth. And in there we joined the um agriculture program and the FFA.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

And of a future farmers of America.

SPEAKER_03 5:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Purple jackets.

SPEAKER_03 5:02

Blue, blue corduroy.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Blue corduroy.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Blue corduroy, yes. And that honestly, I'd say changed all of our lives. Um not only did we learn more about agriculture there, but we learned leadership, we learned policy development, um, we learned parliamentary procedure, and we learned how to connect everything we were learning to politics and to the economy and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

I I I have seen video of FFA conferences and as as the young people get elected and the speeches that they give, and uh it's just amazing. And and as someone who spent 35 years in Harrisburg to watch them come sometimes during farm show, but also at other times of the year. Yes. Uh it was just amazing. And frankly, trying to explain farm show to non-Pennsylvanians or to some of my friends from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

You know, it takes takes a little bit of work.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Uh because it is such a part of the culture of central Pennsylvania, starting with Burks in Chester County and you know, yes, absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 5:55

And FFA, teaching it now, I'm the FFA advisor, and seeing kids be able to embrace some of the passions that they love there, and then we can feed that and make them develop those passions, they just come out of their shell and grow. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

That's great. So now how many students Double Hawkins, what, about 100 per graduating class?

SPEAKER_03 6:13

About 100 per class, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:14

How many out of the hundred are taking some ag courses?

SPEAKER_03 6:17

Um per graduating class, we probably have about twenty-five, but all in all, our ag program is ninth through twelfth grade, and I have about ninety students.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Okay. And and um i I mean, obviously you're your high school, not not at a college, but is there like a minoring in it, majoring in it? Like you're if you're taking ag, are you taking a lot of ag classes, or is it kind of one a semester?

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Uh most kids can fit in their schedule one or two a quarter, um, or depending on the class they're taking a year. Uh but we have pathways that we like them to follow, so the students can either choose the ag production pathway or the ag mechanics. And if they fit in their schedule, they can even cross classes over so that they can kind of take what they're interested in. Um, and then we try to have them finish that entire pathway in high school.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

And and and does do those careers then require post-secondary ed, allow for post-secondary ed? And is that a traditional four-year college or is that something It's all over.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

It's all over the board. So during our ag class, um, depending on what they take, students will get their OSHA 10 card, which allows them to go out into the workplace in a lot of different aspects, whether it's laboring at an ag construction company or on a farm. We have a food science class where they'll also get their serve safe certification so they can go work in a restaurant. If they'd like to take it to a uh even an associate's degree or a four-year degree, our classes will prep them to go to colleges in ag science, agronomy, dairy science. Um, and we even have some classes that are um credited through Delaware Valley as well. So they can get double dual credits.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

All right. And uh I was gonna say, so so Delaware Valley, I'm familiar with, and I think uh State Senator Judy Schrank used to teach there. Yeah. I was an ag extension agent talking about politics and agriculture mixing and everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Uh Penn State, obviously. What are some of the other schools that are involved in ag science?

SPEAKER_03 8:09

Um we do we have Penn State, Delaware Valley. There's one that we use uh Sony in New York. We go through there, and then there's this opens up kids to all over the country. I went to college in Louisiana on a rodeo scholarship from my ag classes.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

On a rodeo scholarship?

SPEAKER_03 8:25

I did, yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Okay, we have we we have to explore that at least a little bit. What did you do in rodeo?

SPEAKER_03 8:30

I did breakaway roping, barrel racing, and goat tying.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

Goat tying.

SPEAKER_03 8:34

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

It's not something that comes up in a conversation every day.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

Not usually, no.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

No. But but but but barrel racing, that's like hardcore.

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

You know, Formula Four on a on a horse with uh with without the padding and and and and and the roll cage in everything.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

A lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

A lot of fun.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

Yes, a lot of adrenaline.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

I'll bet. Um are you still in rodeo doing anything?

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Uh now I ride cutting horses. So I don't do um rodeo as much. Uh my daughter, I hauled my daughter all over the country in high school rodeo. She went to college then in Kansas and went to a couple of national um uh high school finals, uh, Nebraska and Oklahoma.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 9:14

Um but now I ride cutting horses with my parents, kind of a family thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

So I I I said superhero, so so you know the rodeo thing I mean I think completely fits. That's that's very very cool and cool. It must be a story that you tell students.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Um what what made you decide to to go into education?

SPEAKER_03 9:31

So after I graduated um college, and my degree was in agriculture science, and I bought from uh McNe State in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

Okay. That's the that was the rodeo scholarship.

SPEAKER_03 9:42

Yes, that was the rodeo scholarship. And then I bought the family farm and we farmed there for 20 years. Um after a couple years, one of the Topahken school board members kept coming to me and saying, you know, you'd be a great ag teacher. And I was like, Well, I'm not certified, you know, there's not a pathway, this type of thing. Um and he was at me for about three years, and finally there was an opening at Topahaken, and I said, I'll look into it. That time Millersville University was offering an expedited um master's degree with certification.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:14

So I did that. Um it was 30 credits, and we did that in 13 months, and gained my That is expedited. It was, it was. I actually gained my teaching certification in biology through that, which was a passion of mine from high school, so that worked well. And I started teaching on an emergency certification while I did that at Topahaken. They had a position where they needed a long-term sub. And then I loved it. I added my agriculture certification onto there, and now I'm pursuing my second master's degree in ag education from Montana State University.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Aaron Ross Powell Wow, very, very cool. Yes. So for for careers, uh at least from your perspective, your experience, careers in ag science, so being a farmer and doing the kind of farming you did, what's what was the best part of that?

SPEAKER_03 11:03

The best part now, um the experiences that I had when I can be in a classroom and teach something out of a book and then say, okay, this is how it really goes. The students, it's like you can hear a a pin drop. They're quiet, they're really listening because they're like, oh, Mrs. Garber already did this, you know, and and that is um that's just amazing that I have that experience that I can use for my teaching. I don't think I'd be as good of a teacher without it. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

So I I think that's that's so important to bring into the classroom the real world experience. Uh and as you said, the way it is in the textbook is not this necessarily the way it is. Absolutely. For any career, you know, for the the way it goes later. Um what's the worst part?

SPEAKER_03 11:48

Um, the worst part. You um you're you're very regulated when you teach, you know. So that might be some of the worst part, but I I am truly I have excellent admin and school board. So I hear horror stories, but honestly, I haven't experienced much of that.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Well but so the cabs were better, they didn't give you any lip, they didn't uh the cab showed up on on time every morning and everything when you're when you were a farmer. So great.

SPEAKER_03 12:12

Yeah. So I definitely like now that like we just had snow. I didn't have to go outside and feed anything. I could do my job virtually from the computer. So I liked that. Farming, you're out in the weather all the time.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

I I would imagine, you know, for for all the teachers who complain about being in the school at 7, 7 30, you you you're looking at them going, this is late for me.

SPEAKER_03 12:32

This is I loved it. I have no problem putting in the extra hours and all because to me, after having the farm, it's um yeah, it's it's not it's not hard.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Well, this has been a great conversation. We're going to leave for a moment our conversation with you here. Talk to your sister Sarah.

SPEAKER_03 12:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

A little bit about her origin story as well, and then bring the two of you together to talk about, you know, where do we go next? Uh, and and and this is something that the Berks Business Education cares about across a lot of occupations, but where do we go next to help our young people here in Berks County learn about all these cool careers? So we have been with Amy Garber, who's the Ag Science teacher at Talpahaken. Thank you for being with us. We're gonna be right back with her in a few minutes. We're gonna take a break here. Welcome back. I'm Dave Patty with Customers Bank and the Burks Business Education Coalition. In the first part of our show, we met Amy Garber, who is the Ag Science Teacher of Toplahaken. Uh, we've taken a little break, and we're bringing back with another sister uh with us now in the studio Sarah Phelps, the president of Irish Creek Construction. Um and and what we're exploring today with you and with Amy are you know how did the each of you find your way into constructions that are not necessarily typically uh you know a a woman's at least once upon a time, you know, being in in a farmer, uh uh being a farmer, being in ag science or being in in construction. But also, you know, what we want to get into later in the show then is is is how do we help young people find these careers? But I want to start with you. Like you said, you obviously you grew up on the farm, mom and dad, and one day just woke up and said, This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_04 14:20

I wish it were that easy. But first of all, thank you for having me. Glad to be here. This is I'm sure this is gonna be a lot of fun. Um so uh first and foremost, we grew up with really strong parents um that were both really great examples. And growing up on a farm, we did everything together. The family worked together and we played together. I was just talking to someone the other day that said, Oh gosh, I hope we have a white Christmas. And I said, Do you want to shovel on Christmas morning? And he laughed and I said, Well, I guess so. And he said he he always used to wish for a white Christmas on Christmas morning, and I said, I never did, because all that meant as a kid was that you only got to look at your Christmas presents before going and shoveling barn doors open. So so um, you know, we always could um we were never told we couldn't do anything. And growing up on a farm, um, we it was always instilled in us to work hard to make sure uh whatever you're doing is done correctly and and done right. So first and foremost, it was it was having those great examples of parents. My mother actually ran the farm, so uh I had a great example of a really strong woman already doing something not in the mail down or not in a typical uh field, and she won national awards um as a young farmer. Wow, which was which was really neat to see. Um my dad always was a great supporter of her. You know, he never told any of us that we couldn't do something that uh uh because we were uh a woman. Um in fact, starting in ag mechanics uh in actually Tolpahaken High School, um in those classes and in construction, I didn't realize that there was much of a difference.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Right.

SPEAKER_04 16:11

Uh because we weren't raised that way.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Right. And Amy Amy said that that you chose to change school districts for the sake of those classes at Tolpahaken.

SPEAKER_04 16:20

Yes. So growing up on a farm, our schedules uh look a little bit different. Right? So uh and typical school districts back then didn't always understand if we had a sick animal or or had to go uh pick up whatever for the farm that it was a family uh ordeal and that sometimes we couldn't get to school on time or we might need an extra day off here or there. All of our grades were always good. We never had a grade issue, uh all three of us. And so uh Topehaken was more receptive to to uh that lifestyle. And so Amy and Laura, my two sisters, transferred and and so when it came time for me to to go into ninth grade, I transferred as well and ended up loving my ag mechanics classes, which is really what started me on the path to construction.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

And again, I was because so so ag the sort of ag production, the farming is a lot most of us would think of planting crops or raising livestock.

SPEAKER_04 17:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Ag mechanics is to help us with that, with with with specifics of that.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

Ag mechanics classes are phenomenal classes. Uh when I was in school, they taught you everything from basic electrical wiring to small engines to basic carpentry, concrete, um, and everything in between. So all of those odds and ends that you need as a farmer.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

All the facilities. Correct.

SPEAKER_04 17:38

Yep. Um to pretty much maintain your own facilities, you learned in high school.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

Right.

SPEAKER_04 17:43

And so I thought it was really neat. Uh we did welding, um, and I started talking to my father about how I could use those particular skills in a career path.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

And he had started Irish Creek construction when you were very young, was it?

SPEAKER_04 17:55

Or at that point it was Irish Creek Excavating.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:58

And he started that in 1993 out of uh uh one of our home offices.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

And you have a couple of different divisions now, right? Excavating and construction. Tell us about Irish Creek and the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Thank you. So we started in ninety three. Dave founded uh an excavation company with no employees and no equipment, bootstrapped it himself. He borrow uh started it by borrowing five thousand dollars on a credit card.

unknown 18:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

Um incredible story. And um now um we're a multi-million dollar company. We've made um the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies in America a couple of times. We're on track to make that again for this year's revenue. Um but yes, we're a general contractor now and we still have our site work division.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

Okay, so so uh and that's uh uh commercial construction. Commercial and industrial.

SPEAKER_04 18:44

We do some custom residential.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

Yes. We also work in uh Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, and Delaware.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Wow, so that's a pretty big geographic area. Yes. How many I I would imagine a lot of people are 1099 employees, but how many employees or teams do you have out there?

SPEAKER_04 18:57

We run a pretty pretty tight outfit. We only have, I believe right now we're at 18 employees.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Okay. And then bring in subcontractors as new.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

We sub count contract out a lot of work. We do self-perform all of our own site work, but um we have a great group of guys. If we can't find a subcontractor that can fit our schedule and do what we need to do, we likely have someone on our team that can get it done. Great.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

So it's a mix of And let me you know underscore what I said at the beginning. You're the president of this operation.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 19:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

So draw the lines for us from growing up on a farm and doing farm work to being the president of a construction company at a very young age.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

That could be a very long line. Um so um I s I, you know, back to in high school when I asked my dad what I thought how I could use these skills, he said um he kept joking with me, well, you could take over my company one day. And I was always uh a daddy's kind of girl, right? Um I I always looked up to my father, obviously tremendously. He always was doing great things. So I finally said, Is that what you want me to do? And he said, Well, if you would like. And I said, Well, let's not get that far, but how would I go about even starting that? And he said, You could start in the field if you wanted. And I said, Okay. Because I was always uh I like to use my hands and and work outside. So I started laboring for Irish Creek excavating at the time. I didn't run much equipment. I ran a shovel and a rake. I wasn't I was not high man on the totem pole, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Starting at the at the true bottom.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

Yes, yes. And I I didn't want to be looked at any differently because I was the boss's daughter. Now I'm sure the guys kind of protected me in some instances, but um other than that, they made sure I could work hard, and only then is when I gained their respect.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

And how how old were you when that was starting, when you were driving the rake?

SPEAKER_04 20:52

18.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

18. Yeah. And had had the rake in the shovel in hands and pulling the dirt around. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 20:57

And actually some of those guys that I worked with then still work for us now.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 21:01

Yeah, it's pretty cool. So then I went to college um and uh majored in construction management. But uh through my laboring um during summers and winters laboring for Irish Creek, I uh I always liked seeing the whole building. I didn't want to just do site work. Okay. And Irish Creek did some general construction but never advertised for it. So it was very much a customer need-based um division at that point. Um so out of college, I I didn't want to just do site work, so I decided to work for a couple of other GCs. I interned for another GC in the area and then I worked for another GC in the area for seven years. But I saw um a customer service level that I was used to um uh uh giving from my family's businesses, whether it be it the farm business, the horse and boarding stable business, and then the con the excavation business. I saw a um kind of hole in the market that I thought I could fill. And so I started talking to my dad about starting my own business. And he said, Well, then how about you come back over at Irish Creek and we'll grow this together?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

And this is the awkward part of the conversation because I know the answer to it, but I have to ask it for everybody who's listening at home.

SPEAKER_04 22:10

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Where did you go to college?

SPEAKER_04 22:12

The Ohio State University.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

You know, as somebody who did some grad work at Penn State, I'm obligated to walk out now. But I'm not going to do that. Um and and I think it's fascinating and and and we need to to make sure everybody understands or or thinks through. You and your sister each went to more uh programs that in at Tapahakan can be quick uh considered career tech education. It's the it's their own in-house career tech education for agriculture, and then still go to colleges and universities and get four-year degrees and and and and advanced degrees. Uh that that it is not oh, if you go this route of farm or construction, you know, you're going uh a vocational route, you know, without the college degrees, the post-secondary education comes in with it and is necessary, in fact, for success in the in in these fields and in this careers. Um so what was was that something that you think Tobahaken helped you to understand and instilled in you? Hey, here are the next steps, or did you find those on your own?

SPEAKER_04 23:12

Yes, I think Tobahaken definitely helped me help me understand that. However, I think from the time that I went to high school to the uh our education system now is I would I would argue that you can find a path to succeed in construction or the agricultural industry, maybe not teaching, for instance. But um certainly in agriculture or construction with or without a college degree. Oh sure, right. Right. At that point, um I I do I must um I must say um just for for the record that I only went to Ohio State because if I would have gone to an in-state school and could drive home to work instead of going to class, I wouldn't have graduated. So I specifically went out of state for that reason. Nothing against unless we're talking football, nothing against Penn State.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Unless we're talking football.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Unless we're talking football.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

No, no, no, no, no, no. We won't j we're just not gonna go there this year, yes.

SPEAKER_04 24:10

So so I so yeah, I think t in today's today's day and age, there's certainly a path forward um for any young person, especially young women, whether you do or don't go to college. At the point in my career when I went to college, I thought it would help me a college degree would help me get my foot in the door. Um but in hindsight, the the most learning I've done was certainly after college.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

Aaron Powell Sure. And uh and on the job. And coming home every summer and applying what you heard in class to say, okay, let's see how this really works now in the field. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:43

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 24:43

And then and and how different was what you learned at the Ohio State from what you learned in the field.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

Aaron Ross Powell Some things uh were very different. So uh I think any education gives you a good overview of what to expect in your actual career path. But the nitty-gritty uh everything the kind of meat of what you need to know to be successful, you have to learn hands-on. And that's where the work ethic from where I grew up came into play. Because I knew that I may not have as much talent as someone else, and I certainly am not always as smart as someone else, but I can certainly outwork them. And so that's where I really excelled in my career and got to where I am. And that's why our company has.

SPEAKER_00 25:27

Well, what what's the best thing about being in construction? Whether and whether it be for a young woman going into construction or a young man going into construction, what what would you say, hey, this is the great part about it?

SPEAKER_04 25:36

I get to solve problems every day. So if you like puzzles or if you like um to take uh uh an instance that you maybe don't run into every day, and it's always something different, um, and figure out how to solve that uh for a customer and and deliver a really cool product in the meantime, that's what construction is.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

And you're helping people realize a dream. They have a vision for whatever the the the the the facility is that you're building for them, and the there's an architect or a designer who laid it out, but you guys have to go in sometimes or you design build, but someone has to go in and move that dirt around and pour the foundation and put the structure on top.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

Construction always solves a problem. Either it's you don't have enough space and you need more, or you have too much space and you need less, or maybe you just want to change the space that you're in. So construction is always solving some kind of problem, and I get to be the one solving those problems.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

That's great. So what's what's the worst part of it?

SPEAKER_04 26:31

We don't need to talk about that. Every day is great. Every day is great. That's what we say. Every day is positive. It's always a good day in the creek.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

It's always a good day in the creek.

SPEAKER_04 26:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Well, we're gonna leave it in the creek for just a few minutes and then uh take a little bit of a break and then bring back Amy and then have a conversation kind of at a higher level about how to the the two of you are working with the young people to keep bringing them into the careers and how our schools and our and our businesses in Burks can work better together. So stay right there, we'll be back in just a few moments. Welcome back. I'm Dave Patty with Customers Bank and the Burks Business Education Coalition, and today we're talking about careers and career pathways, and particularly talking about pathways in construction and in agroscience, with our two guests. We have with us Amy Garber, who is the ag science teacher at Tople Hogan High School, and then also from Irish Creek Excavating and Construction, Sarah Phillips, the president of Irish Creek, uh, and and and sisters. Uh so thank you for being with us. Um we've explored with each of you independently kind of how you got to be where you are today. And in this segment, what I'd love to talk about is a little bit more about what you're doing to help the next generation. Um I think one of the things that we talked about off the air is is that particularly for young ladies, you know, it's it's important and it's important for everybody, but not get stuck in the box. You know, here's the expectation, here's what society wants you to do, thinks you will do, here's the careers that your parents had, so therefore this is what's open to you. So how do you n how do you start by talking to a to a young person? And how young are they when they start talking about don't get stuck in the box?

SPEAKER_03 28:14

Um I think I start talking to kids usually around ninth grade. Uh, when they come into my ag classes and we're asking them to do things. I teach a lot of ag mechanics. I teach kids to weld and teach on small gas engines. Um we do concrete, we we pour concrete and things like that, and the girls do it right along with the boys. And I purposely say to them, if you really enjoy this, you know, you can pursue it. Just because you don't know anything about it is not a reason not to pursue it if you're enjoying it. Um I have several students now that are graduating um in welding and in girls, and they've been placed already uh in in jobs in the in community.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

And welding are amazing career salaries and then the and the ability you can you could pick any place you want to live in America and go find a job there.

SPEAKER_03 29:00

Absolutely. Right now in Ag Mechanics, we're wiring um light switches. And I have some girls in there that are are that are uh are really enjoying it. I said this would be an excellent opportunity for you.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

You know, so is that uh would you say something similar for construction?

SPEAKER_04 29:16

Yeah, um you can certainly find a a lot of great career paths right out of high school. Some need further training. Um but you know, Amy gets gets the kids usually around ninth grade. I try to talk to any any kid that I meet about it. Sure. I talked to a group of uh of girls I was told before uh just the other week I was told they were going to be between the ages of nine and eighteen, and they ended up being about 15, seven-year-olds. Wow. So my game of Jenga to relate to building construction didn't go so well. But I that's you know, is even at that little, I talked to them a lot about, you know, who's my boss and and what I have to do every day to try and relate customer service and owning a business and working outside and with your hands, right? And um it was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

And I mean it is certainly true, right? So is the guy who's never taught construction or anything, but but you know, I would imagine from preschool and kindergarten playing with blocks or Legos or anything else, when you as you're putting them together, constructing something, um, you know, I think you you had talked about you know that you are are making space, transforming space. You know, to the degree they that they could create a structure out of Legos or blocks or anything else. Um, you know, they were already learning some things, and when they have something that's hanging out over, and so it's cantilevered, they don't have to know the word cantilevered, but they know hey, if I balance it and put some weight on the one side, I can make it s longer on the other side.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

You you were secretly there at my Jenga discussion.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

I was secretly there.

SPEAKER_04 30:57

Because that's that's what I tried to talk to them about. And yeah, even um my niece, uh both my nieces, you know, I always tried to get them STEM activities for Christmas presents. And well, and they both they both grew up on on farms now as well.

SPEAKER_00 31:11

And those those were now uh, you know, th those were toys that I mean, look, I I inherited as a little guy. Uh my father's erector set that was given to him in circa 1930. Right? You know, he he was born in Reading in in 1924, and and and so this was in this beat up metal box or something like that. But but I think we there was a time when when when very much kids were given toys that were occupational. Now, they were also the erector set was given to the boy and and and the little pots and panels were given to the girls, probably. Correct, yeah. So we have to get out of that. But but you're right, today's children can be given all kinds of cool toys that kind of open up some some learning and some ideas and a lot of people.

SPEAKER_04 31:52

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:53

Um do you find that if the child themselves doesn't come from a family that's in agriculture or mechanical things or construction things, that they just you know no no no no interest and and and no ability to to think about it, or are are some of them excited? Maybe maybe by the equipment or maybe by the big piles of dirt or you know, by the horses, the animals, and the other way.

SPEAKER_04 32:19

I think it's a little bit of both. Um you know, uh I think if they're not exposed to it, they don't even realize it's a possibility. And so going to like a career fair and speaking, you know, coming in. Actually, uh when I spoke to that group of girls, I tried to dress specifically feminine so that I could show them you could still be a feminine woman and own a construction company. Right? So I try to expose and even there's a lot of adults that I also think don't realize that it's even a possibility. I I run into that a lot with hiring office managers, um administrative assistants. I'm constantly telling my employees, you can solve this problem. You don't have to ask me, you can solve this.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

Use the tools you have. Well, that's because we were talking about it earlier. People put themselves in a box and they have to be able to get outside of that. And just like bringing ninth graders into an ag program, we try to have it at Topahaken that every ninth grader takes our beginning ag program because they're exposed to a little bit of everything. And a lot of them, we have some kids that never never played in dirt. So when we're learning soil science and planting things and they get their hands dirty and they actually make a seed and make something grow out of the seed, they're amazed by it. And it like opens up a whole new world to them that they can do these things.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

So I mean it yeah, it's we learn so much from play. And I and I think adults sometimes forget that, that that play is not just a waste of it is not it's never been a waste of time, it's an educational process. Trevor Burrus, Jr. Absolutely. Um including teamwork and cooperation and collaboration and what to what to do when the teamwork doesn't go so well and everything else as we throw a interim in the sandbox.

SPEAKER_03 34:02

But teaching is actually moving along those lines. For instance, in my classes, I don't give a lot of written tests. Instead, they'll do a comprehensive project that uses all the units in there, and they'll have to develop an experiment using the things that we learned, um, making a research question and a hypothesis and developing an experiment. So they're doing hands-on things, they're working together as a team, and they're really engaged because they're having fun, they're playing.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

Do the you know, I don't know, the seed companies, the the companies that build harvesters and tractors, the construction, the caterpillar and the construction companies and the builders, do those business associations, trade associations have do they engage in with the education community? Are they thinking ahead of their future customers and their and and and future employees? And are they are they doing projects that that still school teachers could use or provide resources that school teachers could leverage to help with bathrooms?

SPEAKER_03 34:58

Um some are. So you could get on a simulator and run a crane, and you could get on and run a dozer. And then they also had the remote control um uh excavators and simulator uh or cranes and trucks, so you would have to pick something up and load it on a truck with your little remote controls. The kids absolutely loved it, ate it up. And I had so many kids come home and say, you know, I want to look into this, and I want to look into crane school, and I want so they are out there. There's just locally there's a gap. Locally, there's a gap between the schools and the industry here. Um now we did, Berks County runs an ag career fair, and we've a lot of schools take kids to that ag career fair. Uh but what I did, and uh Sarah knows is after the career fair, we went on an industry tour. And we took the kids to Sarah's office, and she took us on a job that they were working on. And in that job, there happened to be painters working, electricians working, roofers working, you know, um her guys working. And the kids commented to me that to see all those different trades working in one project was really neat. Yes. So I think if if we can get kids out, and that you know it's a liability issue too, but if we can get kids out in the real world and see some of those projects and see what they would actually be doing, that really sparks interest. Because some of them said I didn't even know that was a job.

SPEAKER_00 36:49

You know, so if if I'm an elementary school teacher, maybe a STEM teacher, and want to show why math and science is important and and and use the construction industry as an example, are there resources from the construction industry, things I could download, anything I could go get from from uh a trade association or or one of the suppliers or something?

SPEAKER_04 37:08

Absolutely. Um I I'm not the the the association uh is is not coming to the forefront of my mind right now, but yes, there are downloadable materials.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

But Google it and and they're it they will be there, yes.

SPEAKER_04 37:23

And locally there are uh community events like touch a truck that they have at the at the Reading Stadium where uh we've uh actually taken some pieces of equipment there that kids can crawl up on and actually sit in real pieces of equipment. They can't make the move. But they can do that and just not that full of things.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Just asking for a friend. Is there like an age limit to crawl?

SPEAKER_04 37:45

No, I don't believe there is. Um but uh uh I believe it's in New Jersey. There's um uh uh uh uh activity park called Diggerland. Yes. My son went to Diggerland. I've heard about Diggerland. Our dad took her son to Diggerland um when he was very little. And there there you can actually make some machines move.

SPEAKER_00 38:08

I'll bet you that's popular with bachelor parties. Yeah, but probably that's probably Yeah. So uh and and I know I've seen some some um this is going back over even ten years, some gamification. So with kids all being online and everything. And while the field trips are great, the liability, the transportation, all the difficulties in western Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh area, they uh uh there was an association working with Carnegie Mountain uh and and the computer school to come up with gamification of everything from the flagger to you know the dump truck operator and and and and everything, but where the kids would play the game and have to do so many you know loads that they would go and pick up and move around.

SPEAKER_03 38:48

Well, they use farming simulator. Our kids often, my son, he has a whole group of ag kids, they have an entire city and farms on farming simulator. And actually at the FFA convention, they set up that they had contests where they had uh six people on either side and they did things like bail stacking and combining. And my son won the bail stacking champion. I just want to give him a plug-in there. Well, well, that's uh the disconnect that I see though, especially for elementary schools, a lot of people are trying to get that curriculum into elementary schools. The teachers don't know how to use it. And I think industry has to reach out more to teachers so that you can teach your math and science in English, but you can relate it to construction. There is a construction is math. There is a ton of math in construction. And if they can make their math problems already using um that construction terminology and agriculture terminology, that would really help build interest. So when I get kids and we start doing 90 degree angles and we use the Pythagorean theorem, and finally they're like, that's why I had to learn this. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

It's like agriculture mechanics uh construction are using algebra, using geometry. Yeah. Sometimes we just don't call it that, or should be we maybe shouldn't call it that, but hey, it's this is ag math, this is construction math. Oh, absolutely. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_03 40:11

And writing. I think I used that yesterday. Yeah. The three, four, the three, four, five, yeah. The three four five rule. Um writing, most of business now is in emails. Right. You know, so writing, kids, when we grew up, I'm aging myself, but when I grew up, writing was all the same. You wrote the same. Now kids have formal writing, you have texting, you have email writing, you know, so it's all different. And they have to learn to do professional writing. Um and we could learn that one of the assignments I gave was I gave them a scenario of they had to make an estimate and tell uh uh owner that they had needed this. Estimates, proposals, yes, and they had to write it in a professional email. You know, or even um a technical report, you know, something. So you can still use put your writing skills.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

And both your process writing.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

Just write instructions. How do you do this? Well, you have to put it in the right order. Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

And now I'm finding how to use uh AI, uh chat GPT, and things like that. And how to I don't mean copy and paste, but how to use it to promote critical thinking and better ideas and you know, and how to write those things.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Now to to to to do a little nerdy education thing for a moment, I think the thing that gets lost uh you know by a lot of a lot of even people in education is that the technical manuals that go with a piece of equipment or that goes with a process for construction or or or ag mechanics, the lexile score, the the the measurement of the complexity of the reading is far higher in that than it is in liberal arts books. Yes, yes, yeah. You know, and and and and it matters. And and and those are the skill sets for people who are going to make something, move something, right? Including milit people who will go into the military. Right. Um so much of what you what you've learned in high school of the the the pathways that the two of you chose translates to other careers like that, including military careers and everything, because you know, you have to get something done. Right. Speaking of getting something done, uh these are cool careers and we should talk about, you know, salaries are probably pretty good in both both fields. Yes. Benefits, I guess it varies with with who you're with.

SPEAKER_04 42:13

It does.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

But you have to show up for work every day.

SPEAKER_04 42:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

And you actually have to work hard.

SPEAKER_04 42:17

Yes, and I was thinking as as Amy was speaking, uh what I see a lot um watching kids go through their high school education and even their grade school education, and then they get out and they come work for someone like me. Um they're not just uh not exposed to some of this, but um gosh darn, I actually lost my entire thing.

SPEAKER_03 42:43

They're they're given passes. I think you're going in with IEPs and for instance, I have a senior right now who had a detention because he was late for school three times. And he said it's only three minutes. He was only three minutes late. So that was where I was going. Yeah, I think so. So what I did in class is we make rules that have the students help us write our classroom rules and it's based on Indian sh uh industry standards. Would you be able to be three minutes late every day at work?

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Right.

SPEAKER_03 43:11

No. Would you be able to come into work with you know sandals on if you're in construction? No. You can't come into school to weld that way either. Right, right. You know, so I think um holding kids accountable in school has to be a little more strict, and then you have to be able to show the kids why that's in industry. You know, you have to be able to have them relate the rule in school to how it's going to be once they get out of school. And that seems to help. Right.

SPEAKER_00 43:36

Yeah, and and understand that it's a team, too. So if if if if they hurt their foot because something falls on it and they're not wearing the protective shoe wear, or they're three minutes late, everybody's three minutes late because they're all waiting on that other person. Everybody has a key role there. Um and and by the way, if you're tired and don't feel like working today, well that's everybody doesn't work today. So no, we work hard. Correct. Every single single day when we're when we're there.

SPEAKER_04 44:02

We've talked about that a lot, is is that in the school system they're often helped and and given multiple pathways to complete things and multiple chances, which is great. However, they come work outside in the actual in the real world, you don't have maybe so many chances.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

True.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

And so they need to realize that they need to put a higher level of effort in. You know, it's not just talent or the grades you had in high school, it's how what lengths will you go to get that job completed and completed done correctly.

SPEAKER_03 44:33

We have so many kids that say it's good enough. Good enough is, you know, and what did dad always say? You know, why do you want to be average? Why do you want to be good enough? And I say that to my students all the time. Why is good enough okay for you? You know, if you have the potential to make an A, why is C good enough?

SPEAKER_00 44:52

So And by the way, if you deliver a product that's just good enough for the client, they'll go hire somebody else next time who wants to do it really well. Right?

SPEAKER_03 44:59

Yes, well we talk about that uh it th in w in our competition too, when we win something, and I have my my sisters are both national champions on their intercollegiate horse show teams. And dad would say, Good job getting to the top, now stay there. Because once you've done that and you're up there, now everybody's gunning for you. And that's how it is in business. Everybody's gunning for that top spot. And even once you're there, now you have everybody else trying to get there.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 45:26

So you have to continually get better.

SPEAKER_00 45:28

So so if a a parent, a grandparent, a teacher is watching this and and knows a younger person who thinks they want to get into this, what's the