Perry-Lecompton High School senior James Stansell isn’t looking for what many of his classmates are when they enter the work world.

He’s not searching for a job with a corner office or a big corporate title.

“Having a job that lets me be outside is a real big deal to me,” Stansell said. “I don’t want some type of job where I sit around all day and grow so big that I can’t get off the couch.”

The area construction industry is in search of students like Stansell.

In fact, the industry is facing such a shortage of new workers entering the business that the state’s largest commercial construction trade organization is sponsoring vocational programs in high schools across the state.

The Associated General Contractors of Kansas, along with about 15 area contractors, teamed up to start a program at Perry-Lecompton High School this year.

Employees from the construction companies visit the school three times a week to teach classes in their areas of expertise, ranging from concrete work to electrical installation to drywall finishing.

“We do it because it is not only beneficial to the kids but it is also beneficial to us,” said Tracy Green, president of Lawrence’s B.A. Green Construction Co., which helps teach the concrete portion of the class. “It is no secret that we are pretty concerned with some manpower issues in the skilled trades. Hopefully, one of these items we’re talking about will spark an interest in some of these kids and they’ll consider construction as a career.”

Cody Vantuyl, 18, and Kyle Herschell, 16, work on a section of duct work at Perry-Lecompton High School. They are students in a class sponsored by construction companies who hope to attract more young people to work in the industry.

Perry-Lecompton is the fourth high school where the association has sponsored a program. The first program started at Wichita East High School about five years ago. It has since started programs at Topeka West High School and a shared program at Wamego and Rock Creek high schools.

The association and the contractors donate the necessary materials for the classes, and in the case of Perry-Lecompton, agreed to provide discounted services to build a new 4,000-square-foot school addition to house the program.

Contractors who participate also agree to provide $8-an-hour internships to interested students in the program. The companies provide full-time summer internships to juniors and part-time internships during the school year to seniors.

Shawn Fowler, education director for the association, said the trade group believed it was important that the construction industry become a more visible career choice to high school students.

“I think the driving factor for fewer kids going into the industry is because our schools have had a real emphasis on encouraging every kid to continue on to a university or college when not all of them want to or are equipped to,” Fowler said. “I think we have fallen into that trap for so long that our work force has become depleted now.”

Mike Copple, Perry-Lecompton’s industrial technology teacher who oversees the class, agrees the industry probably suffers from a perception problem.

“Parents sometimes think the construction industry is not for our best kids, and that is just not true,” Copple said. “Plus, I don’t think a lot of people understand these are good-paying jobs these days.

“You might start out at $8 to $10 an hour but once you get a little bit of experience, you can make $35,000 to $40,000 a year, with benefits, pretty easily.”

The Perry-Lecompton program has 14 students this year, and Copple said he thought several of the students would pursue a job in the construction industry after graduation.

“If they go through the internship program and everything, I think they’ll be pretty marketable right out of high school,” Copple said.

Fowler said the average age of a construction worker in Kansas was 54 years old, so he said there would be plenty of jobs available to young workers for years to come.

Stansell, who is part of the class, is quickly finding that out. He said he works part time for an iron works company and makes more than $10 an hour.

“They’ve told me there is a full-time job waiting for me as soon as I turn 18 and graduate from high school,” Stansell said.