On Feb. 27, the Construction & Maintenance Education Foundation (CMEF), the educational affiliate of Associated Builders and Contractors of Greater Houston, partnered with local construction industry professionals for the 2019 Girls Construction Camp at CMEF’s Performance Verification Center. Since 2016, the camp has provided girls with career awareness and experience in the construction industry, with the hope that some of them may ultimately consider a career in construction.

Most of the volunteers who led the various sessions were women who work in the construction industry.

Thirty-two eighth-grade girls spent the day participating in numerous hands-on skills, including carpentry, drywall installation (pictured) and finishing, equipment operations, scaffold building and pipefitting. The students represented four independent school districts and nine intermediate high schools. They were selected from within the school districts that CMEF sponsors.

S & B Engineers and Constructors Ltd. held a ribbon-cutting for its Nederland craft hiring office on Feb. 20 in cooperation with the Nederland Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Bureau.

Over the coming months, S & B will continue to significantly expand its workforce across all craft disciplines, and the new Nederland office will focus on hiring team members to staff S & B’s projects in the Golden Triangle region of Texas and western Louisiana.

AECOM’s Dallas office recently hosted a roundtable event that brought together female employees from across business disciplines at all levels. At the top of the agenda was AECOM’s new initiative for a diversity and inclusion task force, which will tackle issues related to the gender pay gap, unconscious bias in the workplace and talent retention, among others.

Pictured are AECOM staff, including project managers, engineers and architects: (from left) Ximena Medero, Carol Lively, Diana Cabrera, Alexius Castilleja, Shelley Hartsfield, Puja Sapru, Cherry Anantaphathanawong, Carla Verrando, Wendy Lopez, Erin Lee, Gabriela Vega, Melissa Lawrence, Jasmine Montgomery, Tatum Lau and Revathi Veriah.

A team from Ridgemont Commercial Construction participated for a third time in the Form Follows Fitness 5K. Volunteers helped prep runners with snacks, hot chocolate and puppy kisses from a team of friendly mascots. The firm had four runners who completed the 5K this year.

The race is sponsored annually by Blackson Brick Co. Proceeds go toward scholarship programs.

Pictured from left: Jason Lillard, president/principal; Steve Sexton, project manager; Joey Johnson, vice president/principal; Matt Teagarden, project manager; Emily Torres, marketing manager; Dana Compton, director of business development; and Belle Bressler, marketing coordinator.

On Jan. 20, VLK Architects hosted students from Klein Collins High School and Bridgeland High School at the firm’s Houston office for a Job Shadow Day. The event provides students an opportunity to learn about the professional world with experts in their fields of interest. This is the fourth year that VLK has welcomed students to experience a day in the life of an architect.

Eight interactive stations were created throughout the office to allow students to meet VLK employees and learn about careers in architecture. One of the stations, led by Chris Lyner, a designer with VLK, included virtual reality technology that allowed students to try Google Cardboard and experience animation within the realm of architecture. Students also attended a luncheon where speakers, representing a typical architecture team, explained their role in the design process, from plan conception to project completion.

Landis Construction CEO Anne Teague Landis co-chaired the 61st annual Weiss Awards in New Orleans. The awards recognize members of the Greater New Orleans community who help to further human dignity and have been influential in promoting social understanding.

Pictured from left are Stephanie Bridges, New Orleans Council for Community and Justice president/CEO; event co-chair Bob Tucker; co-chair and board member Dottie Reese; and co-chair Anne Teague Landis.