ROGERS, Minn. — Many kids grow up playing with construction trucks in the sandbox, but driving the real thing isn't as easy as it looks.
Fifty seven teenagers from across the Twin Cities got to test their skills on a few construction trucks Wednesday as part of the Minnesota Trades Academy.
“I drove that one over there,” Tyshaun Smith from Saint Paul says. “It’s a little tricky. You’ve gotta get used to it.”
Lillian Trudeau from White Bear Lake had the same experience.
"I was also super nervous. I just kind of laughed it off and tried my best,” Trudeau said.
The Minnesota Trades Academy is a paid eight-week internship that introduces high school students and young adults to dozens of jobs in the trades.
On Wednesday, the students stopped by Veit, a construction and building company in Rogers.
“We really just want to help them understand what opportunities are out there in the trades,” Veit Senior VP of People and Culture Kelly Hansen says.
Students spent the day operating construction trucks to see how they work.
“They’re getting a feel for the equipment and the skill that’s involved,” Hansen says.
Students also met with a variety of professionals at Veit who explained what their jobs are all about.
“They’re getting to meet real people who have worked these jobs for years and to ask them questions about what their job is all about,” Hansen says.
Several other companies are also participating in the academy this year.
Lindsey Tallman is the program director for the Construction Careers Foundation, which manages the academy.
“The whole goal is to help these kids kind of figure out what it is they want to do,” Tallman said. “They get to see firsthand what it’s like to be an operator, be a laborer, be a carpenter. They get to dabble in all these different trades careers and figure out which one do they like best."
The Construction Careers Foundation is already accepting applications for the 2025 Minnesota Trades Academy.