At Home in Berks April 2017 - 30

My names is Carlos J. Mora from the Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology
Center and here is my article. Before coming to Reading I lived in Brooklyn, New York
for six years. Growing up in New York was fantastic because I would see all the beautiful construction work that was happening every day. I would always think to myself
how much fun it would be to work for one of those big construction companies. In
New York there would be scaffolding built everywhere, but mostly on all the sidewalks.
When I was little I was very curious. I would always break down any little toys to see
how they worked and then I would try to put them back together. I failed at a couple of
times but I would never give up, just like my Carpentry Instructor says fail just means
"First Attempt In Learning, don't give up". When I was six we moved to the city of
Reading. While traveling with my family I would see construction everywhere around
the highways, seeing these sights generated my interest to the construction business.
When I was in the ninth grade the school introduced all the students to the Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center for grades 10-12. They explained all the
program areas they had but only one caught my eye and that was carpentry. As of that
moment I knew that would be my only chance to get in and experience the program. I
signed all the paperwork but there was one last thing to, it was to write a paragraph of
why you wanted to be in that program. During the summer a letter came saying that I
got accepted into the program and that we should attend the open house near the end
of the month. I was excited to go to open house to meet the teacher and see how the
program looks. The day of the open house came so I went to it. That was the first day I
met the Carpenter Instructor. He seemed like a very chill teacher.
The new school year started and I was ready to start learning. As the year went by
we started learning about how to square a board correctly, how to staple insulation to
keep the room warm, and also learned how to cut and install drywall. We learned how
to put drywall on walls and the ceiling. We learned all of these things at our building
site, it is right outside of the Cosmetology Program at the school. My instructor taught
us how to calculate the amount of wood we need for the job. He helped us layout
wood for the decking. Our instructor then introduced us to the Student Chapter of
the Home Builders Association of Berks County. He explained that this would be a
good way to go on field trips to meet other people from the construction businesses. It
would also look good on your resume so I joined. The membership for the club HBA
was only five dollars and with those five dollars, they give you a free shirt and it last for
the three years you're there at the Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center.
They also do field trips to some Technical Schools and Colleges you may be interested
in. We were also introduced to the shadowing program. The shadowing program is
where you go to an industrial company and follow along with one or even more than
one worker for a day. They may ask for some help so you can experience how they go
on with their day. This is also good to put on your resume so that employers would
that might want to hire you can see what you did in the past.
Now I'm a second year student at the Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center. This year I'm going to take the trade even more serious than I did the year
before. The trade isn't something to play around with so I'm going to try my hardest
and pass this year and for the next. Mr. Weber announced to the second year guys
that we will be making shed to help us learn how to start from scratch. This project
will go on to our senior year here, the shed size would be 4'-0" by 8'-0". We started
making a materials list to find out how many pieces we would need for the joists and
the flooring. That would be the first step of our project. I am really happy that the
Reading Muhlenberg CTC accepted me to be in the Carpentry Program. Without their
help I wouldn't be doing the things that I can do today. My instructor is helping us to
improve our attitudes and our work habits for the future and to this day I am happy he
helped us improve our knowledge of the trade, I am very grateful. Well this concludes
my biography of how and why I joined carpentry.
~ Carlos J. Mora
30

AT HOME IN BERKs April 2017

ank
thyou...
Every year, the Homebuilders Association
of Berks County and the Reading Muhlenberg Career & Technology Center partner
up for an event that has proven to be very
valuable to students within the Building
Trades.
Members of the Home Builders Association
of Berks County from various backgrounds
volunteer their time to meet with students
from several trades programs. These programs include students from the following
RMCTC Programs: carpentry, bricklaying,
electrical, building and property management, plumbing and heating, computerized
drafting, landscaping, and horticulture.
The HBA of Berks County would like to
extend a special thank you to Steve Weber
for making this happen each year! And,
a special thank you to this year's volunteers; without you this event would not be
possible.
The 2017 volunteers were:
Aluminum Associates/Sloan Corp.,
Kert Sloan
Anewalt's Landscaping, Jim Culley
Diebolt Landscaping, Peter Diebolt
Dolan Construction, Patrick Dolan
Greth Homes, Walter Greth
Hartman's Home Improvements,
Cathy Sloan
Manmiller Electric, Doug Manmiller
The RMCTC Career event takes place every
year during the month of February. Hope
to see you at the 2018 RMCTC Career
Roundtable.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of At Home in Berks April 2017