Before National Apprentice Week, local workers tell benefits of training

YOUNGSTOWN

Joe Neal just finished his workday as a mason tender with a smile on his face, dirt on his shirt and a tan on his arms.

Neal, once an apprentice, is now a journeyman in the Laborers Local 125 union working for Lencyk Masonry on the new Mahoning County Dog Pound project on Meridian Road.

The 25-year-old Vienna resident acknowledges that the job is hard, but he gets to be outside learning a trade and building.

“I never took an appreciation before in how things get put together,” Neal said. “Now, I look at buildings totally differently.”

Next week is the second annual National Apprenticeship Week created by President Barack Obama to recognize the important role apprenticeship programs play in growing a skilled workforce.

“Having the training center and the apprenticeship program, it improves the people we get out on the job,” said Larry Lencyk, president of Lencyk Masonry. “Going to the pre-apprenticeship classes, they get an idea of safety and an idea of what the job entails.”

Lencyk is a graduate of an apprenticeship program.

Before Neal joined the Laborers Local 125 apprenticeship program in May 2013, he was taking a break from attending college and working in a hospital kitchen.

“My dad saw a newspaper ad for an apprenticeship program and I went down and applied,” he said.

Neal became a journeyman in March of this year after he completed 4,000 hours of on-the-job learning and 432 hours of classroom instruction.

“It felt terrific,” Neal said of completing the program. “It’s not just a job; it’s a career. There’s nothing I haven’t found that I don’t like so far.”

Read more about the program in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.