Te other issue that needs to be ad-


dressed is the locality of needs. A class- room in the Central Valley has very dif- ferent requirements than one in the Silicon Valley. Schools are the fabric of our community and have to reflect what teens are used to seeing around town. Case in point: the Agricultural Scienc-


es Career Technical Education Building at King City High School consists of finished classrooms, science labs, and shop spaces including a floral lab, metal shop, wood shop, and mechanic shop.


Tis site is focused on the local com-


munity and what the community needs for its future workforce. For us, it’s vital to help this agricultural center promote the school’s top ranking Future Farmers of America club and support its more than 700 members. It’s not just us, in the industry who


want this. In fact, the workforce is dictating where our business is going. Te new 13,000-sq.-ft. Pamela Mari Da


Vinci Tech Hub will be the focal point of Da Vinci Charter High School’s Computer Science program. Te building’s learning spaces will consist of a tech hub, com- puter lab, science lab, makerspace, CTE breakout space and digital fabrication and media production spaces. Te new 8,000-sq.-ft. Culinary Center


at Florin High School in Sacramento will house two kitchen studios, a demon- stration classroom, food storage and staff offices.


Te newly modernized Del Oro High


School is another example where we took an existing space and updated it to encourage more CTE-focused learning. This project consisted of the demoli- tion and renovation of multiple spaces within an 88,832-sq.-ft. building at Del Oro High School in Loomis, including redefining the path of travel, electrical/ technology upgrades, new mechanical units, replacement of a boiler unit, ac-


The Agricultural Sciences Career Technical Education Building at King City High School consists of finished classrooms, science labs and shop spaces including a floral lab, metal shop, wood shop and mechanic shop.


cessibility upgrades, new interior finishes and hardware. For every five construction workers


who retire, just one enters the workforce. So, it’s no surprise that the industry is demanding that we narrow that age dif- ference. If we keep at the current pace, we’ll have too many jobs with not enough people to work. We want 19-20 year- olds to make our field their first choice. Te jobs are there. the compensation is competitive. The market is stable. We merely need to communicate to young people that they can have a great career in construction – that they can buy a house and a truck and raise a family on that salary. So how do we get that message out?


We were so thankful that we were con- sidered an essential industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yeah, it’s nice to be recognized as important to our economy. But employees have the upper hand – they can drive a good bargain right now. We used to sit back and wait for them to knock on our door, but we need to be more proactive. Build California is already in our schools telling students


construction is a great career. Many students want to work with their


hands and provide a service that doesn’t necessarily require a college degree. I’d like to see who had the “light bulb” moment and said we must put these programs back in the schools. Even when I was in high school, these programs were few and far between. But finally, people realized we were missing an opportunity and that we had a gap in our workforce. It just takes the foresight and where-


withal to put these programs front and center. It’s the right idea for the class, the classroom, the workforce, the economy: right now.


Allison Otto is President and CEO of Otto Con- struction. She is the third generation of the family to lead the company, overseeing the strategic


direction of the company including client outreach and negotiation, identifying and acquiring new clients, maintaining relationships with current and past clients and overseeing projects from an executive standpoint.


CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR JULY-AUGUST 2022


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