Eleven students graduated from the Hawaiʻi 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 Hawaiʻi 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.”…