NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — The parking lot at Zartman Construction near Northumberland was filled with all kinds of equipment on Thursday. It's what employees here use on a daily basis. Around two dozen high school students from SUN Area Technical Institute got to see how it all works.
"They're excited to see the machines, get an opportunity to be hands-on, to work with them," said Tim Clark, vice president of operations at Zartman Construction.
The students are from the welding and carpentry programs at the vo-tech in Union County.
"It's just neat to see how it all works and how all the pulley systems work together and kind of move it around in one fluid motion. It's kind of neat," said senior Parker Helsel.
The students took a field trip to Zartman Construction to get a firsthand look at how the construction industry works.
"Some of the basic things we do with rigging, signaling cranes, just trying to get them excited, hopefully inspire them to get into commercial construction. And to be honest, hopefully, they want to come work for me," Clark said.
The students say the demonstration helps prepare them for their futures, and it was better than learning from a textbook.
"It's cool to get out here and see a lot more commercial stuff. We do some, but it's mostly residential. It's cool to see all the cranes in action and stuff we wouldn't see in class. Obviously, you can't put a crane inside a shop," senior Brock Greathouse said.
"I have a job lined up after graduation, and they do a lot of rigging there. This is an outlook to see what I'm getting into. Just kind of see what's out there and get more knowledge on everything," Helsel said.
Zartman Construction has several employees from the SUN Area Technical Institute and it hopes to get even more after this presentation.