ROSEVILLE – A unique summer program is giving high school students a head start on a stable, well-paying career, not in a college classroom, but on the job site.

Monday marked the first day of a week-long course designed to introduce students to careers in construction. It's part of the Heavy Metal Summer Experience, a national program focused on showing students the wide range of opportunities available in the skilled trades.

The goal is to expose young people to career paths that don't require a four-year degree. Instead, students can pursue training through trade schools and apprenticeship programs, often avoiding student debt altogether.

The Roseville-based company Intech Mechanical is hosting the program for the second year in a row. For one week, many of the company's staff step into the role of instructors, sharing real-world knowledge and guiding hands-on training.

According to Gary Myers, a partner at Intech Mechanical and director of the local program, the effort is both timely and necessary.

"Our industry needed to do a better job of promoting the construction industry as a whole," Myers said. "And teaching these high school kids there's a lot of opportunities, whether that's being a sheet metal worker, plumber, pipe fitter, electrician, construction worker, laborer, whatever that is."

The program comes at a critical time. The skilled trades are facing a significant shortage of workers as older generations retire, leaving tens of thousands of job openings across the country. Fields like electrical work and pipefitting are experiencing especially high demand and programs like this are helping prepare the next generation to step in.

• Roseville