Broadus Senior Duke Blankenship operates an excavator at the "Build Montana" event near Miles City. (Photo courtesy Dori Phillips)
Broadus students attending the "Build Montana" event were: left to right: Darren VerWolf, Kail Irish, Jayce Schroeder, Duke Blankenship, Reuben Kinzer, Dori Phillips (chaperone and driver), Baylor Kinzer, Isaiah McMullan, Sean Oylear and Jackson Knapp. (Photo courtesy Dori Phillips)
By Dori Phillips
Would anyone like a day off from school to go play in the dirt? Nine Broadus juniors and seniors thought it sounded like fun. They traveled to Prince's gravel pit located a few miles west of Miles City and did just that.
It was a Build Montana "Popup" event held by the Department of Labor. Build Montana is a workforce initiative of the Montana Contractors Association Education Foundation. These events have been held across the state and more are scheduled for next year.
Companies involved in this event were: Prince, Oftedahl, Diamond J Construction, and Tri State Truck and Equipment. Reach Higher Montana joined the fun and offered a $500 scholarship to one lucky attendee. We are still waiting to hear if one of our guys was the lucky winner. The contractors also brought along prizes and most of our students left with one.
Oftedahl and Diamond J brought in heavy equipment and scattered it around Prince's gravel pit. Our students received a short demonstration on how to operate the machines and then were in the driver's seats. They "played" in loaders, gravel trucks, haul trucks, blades, dozers and three sizes of excavators, from a mini to a long reach. Oftedahl also demonstrated how they use drones and GPS to do daily jobs.
Other schools attending this event were Colstrip, Forsyth, Rosebud and Miles City.
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