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As graduation season arrives, some juniors and seniors from Saratoga Springs High School are stepping outside of the classroom and onto a construction site.

Scott Lawler, chief estimator at LeChase Construction, reached out to the high school in an effort to attract more students to the field. On top of surging costs for materials and supply chain issues, the construction industry faces a labor shortage.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 91% of surveyed contractors reported having moderate-to-high levels of difficulty finding skilled workers.

“We need more people as a whole," Lawler said. "These projects have a tremendous amount of man-hours. They're built from the ground up."

The program enables students to visit a construction site, while also taking classes to learn about the field. Lawler said with more and more people facing significant student loans, working a trade job is something to consider.

“There’s some kids that are not necessarily cut out for college, and there’s some kids that are,” said Lawler. “It’s important to understand the pluses and minuses to both the blue-collar worker, who are out here actually building it, boots on the ground, and the white-collar, that’s in the office actually putting the estimate together and managing the money, schedule, quality and safety.”

While he uses his expertise to mentor the students, he’s eager to learn from them as well.

“Everyone’s building more and there’s a lot of different details and a lot of different materials that we’re working with,” Lawler said. “All the knowledge of the young forces coming in is important for technology. They can teach us old-timers.”

With graduation quickly approaching, it's a chance for the students to decide on what their next move will be.

“I’ve always been interested in HGTV as such a young boy. It’s so exhilarating,” student Jaylin Adams said. “I’ve always wanted to be hammer and nails.”

“When I was a little kid, seeing big machines going down the road and trucks, it made me want to be a big-machine operator,” student Kenneth Rose said. “Every time I go down the road, I have to stop and look.”