Exposure to Different Career Options While the camp had many standout moments, Eros said he especially loved hearing about one instructor’s journey at the Laborers Training School, who found his path into the trades after starting out planning to be an accountant. Other high- lights included visiting the Western States Carpenters Training Center in Whittier, where students enjoyed hands-on train- ing demonstrations; brainstorming the “shark tank” project; and interacting and networking with trades representatives and contractors, including Granite, Turn- er, and others. “Getting exposure to different trades and finding out if it is a fit for you was pretty cool,” he said. “I’m glad we were able to have multiple types of industry people come in to talk to us. It was also cool to learn about the people who work in the (construction) office and finance part of construction or have different types of jobs within the construction industry, which is something that really interests me.” AGC of California Workforce Place- ment Manager Everly Torres said Eros


Help the Next Generation Find their Construction Career Path


In 2027, Build California is offering a Northern California Summer Camp June 14-18 and a Southern California Summer Camp July 12-16. Contact Lyn Nhong, Workforce Outreach Manager, at NhongS@agc-ca.org to get involved and support these important events.


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CALIFORNIA CONSTRUCTOR NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2026


Michael Collins, left, receiving the AGC CEF grant check from Build California Workforce Outreach Manager Lyn Nhong and Inland Empire Board Member/Swinerton Sammi Shepherd.


brought a high degree of enthusiasm and engagement to the camp, which the Build California team and event sponsor Turner Construction both noticed. “Eros was one of the campers who really stood out throughout the week,” she noted. “He was very engaged, personable, showed lots of leadership within his team, asked good questions, and really seemed to be into it.” Turner Construction was so impressed


they offered him an externship that he completed in the month following the camp. During that externship, he not only had the opportunity to tour a Turner jobsite at Caltech but also gained addi- tional exposure to the administrative and management side of construction by spending time in various Turner de- partments, including finance andhuman resources. As a result of his experience at the


Build California summer camp and the Turner externship, Eros said his interest


in construction has grown considerably. “I do definitely want to go more into the construction industry now, while I also am still keeping college as a backup,” he said. For his parents, Veronica and Cesar


Mejorado, the camp was a unique op- portunity they strongly encouraged Eros to capitalize on. “We are both the product of [attending]


LA Trade Tech, so we’ve always tried to expose him to a lot of trades because we find it so beneficial,” commented Veronica Mejorado, who works for the Long Beach Unified School District. “In addition to the contributions (a trade career makes) to society, it helps with discipline, provides consistency in terms of always having a reliable job, and brings so much growth personally and profes- sionally to individuals.” She added that the impact the summer


experiences had on Eros was clear to see. “After the camp and externship, I saw him being more disciplined and able to


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