DES MOINES, Iowa — Over 7,000 students from 160 schools across the state came to participate in the Build My Future event to learn more about careers in skilled trades. There were booths scattered all across the Iowa State Fairgrounds teaching students about construction, healthcare, trucking, law enforcement and emergency services, military and more.

The goal: to inspire the next generation. 

“For every five people that are leaving the trades, only two are coming back in. And that’s not just construction trades. That’s all of the trades,” Iowa Skilled Trades President Chuck Gassmann said. “So the biggest thing that inspires these students is that we ask our vendors that are here, the businesses, potential employers, that when they come to their booth, they have an activity for the students to do.”

There were trucks, construction equipment, tech projects and more for students to interact with.

“On the inside I was doing the welding job. It was really fun,” East High School freshman Roay Gutierrez said. “It gives me ideas like anyone can come here and become anything they want to be in life.”

“They walk up saying, you know, they’ve been wanting to be a firefighter for forever, but a lot of them don’t even think about the medical side,” Des Moines firefighter Brandon Morris said. “They get over here, they get their hands on some equipment, and then they’re racing each other innovating, racing each other putting on a tourniquet, seeing how much fun that they’re having with that. And then their eyes are opening up to the medical world, the opportunities that are out there.”

“It just gives me a lot of options to look for,” East High School freshman Anisha Hart said. “Yeah I may want to be a nurse now but maybe in three years, maybe I want to work in construction.”

This is the sixth year this event has taken place. It started with just 1,200 students and has now grown to over 7,000. It’s the largest event of its kind in the country. 

“We hope that we’re changing lives and showing kids that there is a really good career, really good benefits in highly technical industries and in the skilled trades,” Gassmann said.

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