Maui Now

Eleven students graduated from the Hawai?i Carpenters Apprenticeship & Training Fund’s (HCATF) Career Connections summer internship program at the HCATF facility in Kapolei.

The students, recent high school graduates or high school seniors, participated in a six-week paid summer internship at major construction projects across the state with signatory general contractors. They received their completion certificates on July 23, which allow them to advance in the trades’ profession, starting with direct entry into the Hawai?i Carpenters Apprenticeship & Training Fund apprenticeship program.

Laurie Noneza, a McKinley High School senior, worked with general contractor Albert C. Kobayashi at the Iolani School Arrillaga Student Center during her internship.

“I was interested in a career in the trades, and when I took the courses at school, I really enjoyed the work, so I enrolled in this program,” said Noneza. “It was hard work, and the program is fast paced, but you learn so much more than in the classroom. It’s like taking the AP version of a construction class.”

Noneza will complete her senior year at McKinley High School and intends to join the HCATF apprenticeship program after she graduates.

The HCATF Career Connections Summer Internship Program is now in its 7^th?year and open to high school students who have completed their junior or senior years and taken the prerequisite classes offered at their high schools. Students are selected through an application process and placed with participating signatory contractors with the Hawai?i Regional Council of Carpenters. The program has become a crucial bridge, connecting the next generation to the skilled trades profession.