8' by 10' shed being built for raffle to help support the TERO Carpenter Apprentice Program's
participation in the Construction Combine.
By ROSELYNN YAZZIE
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — The Shoshone-Bannock TERO Department is selling squares for the chance to win a storage shed.
Proceeds will help support the Tribal TERO Carpenter Apprentice Program, more specifically to raise funds for the Construction Combine. The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have been an annual contributor to the Construction Combine, which will take place in March. This event provides young adults an introduction to construction trades. The amount they contribute is $1,000 but TERO doesn’t have those funds available, so they decided to organize the fundraiser.
Last year three of the tribal participants were awarded as outstanding workers, they were Grayson Borjas, Billy Zane Coby and Trevor Beasley. They received tools for their awards.
This year TERO would like to send 20 participants to the Construction Combine.
The apprentices will construct a new 8’ by 10’ foot shed as part of their training. Constructing a shed offers the basic understanding of how to build a building.
They have class every Tuesday night and Idaho State University provides the instruction. There are four tribal members in the second-year apprenticeship, Traelee Perdash, Grayson Borjas, Franklin Devinney and Trevor Beasley. There’s one other apprentice, Mylez Kniffin, he’s under a apprentice partnership program with Idaho Transportation Department with Cannon Builders and TERO. He’s a third-year apprentice.
“Our apprenticeship program, we want to make it better, but it’s really hard. Apprenticeships are really hard for people to totally understand and I think it’s because it’s a commitment,” said Lenora Lavatta, Compliance Officer for TERO.
She explained carpenters have to earn 8,000 work experience hours. One can earn up to 2,000 a year if they work full time every day, but construction doesn’t allow them to do that. Then they have to attend class for 144 hours, one time per year during the four-year period.
Lavatta also said the construction trade is good to learn, especially because of all the future job opportunities for housing development around Pocatello.
TERO hopes to develop a pre-apprenticeship program to teach soft skills and job basics and it will be open to high school students and anyone who wants to learn.
All squares are $10 each. They hope to have all squares sold by February 4 and will hold the drawing that day at 6 p.m. at the Training Center, which is located in the Old Commodity Building.