GRANITE CITY– Granite City High School seniors Lucas Hutchings and Reece Smallie were recognized at the 2024 SKILLED Award Winners Ceremony on Feb. 6 at the S.M. Wilson & Co. Headquarters in St. Louis.
The event consisted of appetizers, networking and a short ceremony.
Hutchings and Smallie were awarded $500 each for their plan in further developing the GCSD9 mobile classroom. Their plan included purchasing “more tools, machines, computers and other technology” for the trailer.
“We have been fortunate to have S.M. Wilson as a part of our district growth in GCSD9. Their approach to a project goes past the physical construction, but also includes their celebrating the completion of a project with us,” said GCSD9 Superintendent Stephanie M. Cann. “Their Skilled & Follow the Build programs bring student engagement into the educational forefront through specific classroom presentations by field experts, and on-site field trips to our own active project sites.”
M. Wilson’s Construction Career Education program SKILLED provides hands-on opportunities to integrate academic learning and focus on future employment in the A/E/C industry. SKILLED’s mission is to “Inspire the future of construction.” The company established the initiative in 2019 to inspire the future of construction, a field struggling to employ enough workers, including inspiring more women and people of color to enter the field.
The annual SKILLED Awards challenges high school students to create a process, lesson, activity or product that engages students with science, technology, engineering, art and/or math (STEAM) to engage younger students in an inspiring way. Sponsored in partnership with the Missouri School Board Association (MSBA), the Illinois Association School Administrators (IASA) and the STL Works, this year’s SKILLED Awards awarded three $1,000 prizes.
ABOUT S. M. WILSON & CO.M. Wilson is a full-service construction management, design/build and general contracting firm with offices in St. Louis and Edwardsville, IL. Founded in 1921, S. M. Wilson is dedicated to putting people first above and beyond expectations for their clients. The 100% employee-owned company is one of the leading construction management firms in the Midwest. The company’s areas of expertise include K-12 education, commercial, healthcare and industrial projects. For more information, visitwww.smwilson.com.
