News
JBH VP Maria Guy serves as Board President for ACE Leadership High School
JBH VP Maria Guy is board president for ACE Leadership High School, a new Albuquerque Charter School focused on developing student skills through an Architecture Construction and Engineering curriculum. The NM Building and Education Congress, a group formed by membership of the Associated General Contractors New Mexico Building Branch, founded ACE Leadership High.
About ACE Leadership High School
The mission of ACE Leadership High School is to equip young people who love to design and build things. To do this, our school will work closely with students, parents, families, community leaders and leaders in this profession to ensure that what we are teaching our students and how we are teaching them is both real-world and demanding enough to create a sustainable and powerful future for this industry in New Mexico.
We believe that to be most effective in delivering on our mission, the curriculum must integrate academic knowledge with trade skills and high levels of the professional “soft-skills” such as collaboration, communication and being client driven.
To aid with this unprecedented level of integration, we will have a Construction Coach on staff. The Construction Coach will help teachers develop projects that incorporate the industry processes and help us understand what types of real projects students can tackle and accomplish. He or she will also continue to connect the school to other construction professionals who wish to mentor our students.
If students are interested in ACE, we believe they will be active learners. Kids who think they want to be involved with designing and building communities are likely kids who learn best by doing.
The daily experience of students at ACE Leadership will reflect this understanding and can be summarized by the phrase, “Learning by doing, every day, in every class.” Typically, schools are not designed to create and sustain active learning. Yet, many students interested in working with their hands in traditionally designed schools wait all day, through classes that seem irrelevant to them, so that they can engage in their elective classes to learn with their hands.
Go to ACELeadership.org to learn about the school and its mission.
JBH Journeyman Kris Gillham Wins Local and Regional Union Competition
JBH apprentice Kris Gillham has completed his Local 412 Apprenticeship by not only winning the Pipefitting portion of the State of NM Apprenticeship contest, but going on to win the Western Regional’s contest.
In the 2- day state competition, Kris completed projects in the following individual categories; welding, T-Drills, soldering and brazing, rigging, and VIC along with a written assessment test. After claiming the #1 spot in the state for the pipefitter apprentices, Kris was eligible to compete in the Western Regional’s competition against apprentices from 9 western states. With five years of intense training behind him, Kris beat 38 total contestants including 7 fellow pipefitters to win the competition. He is the first person on record from LU 412 to win regionally.
Kris excelled in a written test, completion of two isometrics drawings and individual projects in the following disciplines; brazing and soldering, screw pipe, rigging, tube bending and steel. Each of the 7 tasks was worth 100 points awarded by nationally recognized judges. Plumbers, welders, sprinkler fitters and HVAC technician apprentices joined the pipefitting apprentices to take part in the 3-day contest. By the 3rd day, Kris was awarded the most points overall on the pipefitting scorecard.
The next challenge for Kris is the National competition, which takes place in Ann Arbor, Michigan in August. According to LU 412 Assistant Training Coordinator Chuck Schumann, there are over 30,000 total apprentices nationwide, making the 300 who competed regionally the top 1% of all national apprentices. Of that Top 1%, the 7 best in each category: pipefitting, plumbing, welding, sprinkler fitting and HVAC technician will compete in the national competition.
Kris has worked at JBH since he began his apprenticeship, starting out in our onsite pipe fabrication facility and most currently learning cutting-edge 3-D modeling software and supporting work at Sandia National Labs.
Congratulations Kris! Good luck at nationals!
Lena Burpo Receives ASQ-Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence
