Marion resident teaches kindergartners about the construction industry

MUNCIE, Indiana — Ball State University construction management major Nathan Cook of Marion is educating children who could be his future employees.
 
Mentored by Jennifer Warrner, assistant lecturer of construction management, Cook and his classmates involved in the Let’s Build immersive learning course at Ball State this Spring semester spent time each week introducing kindergarteners to the construction industry at Longfellow Elementary School in Muncie.
 
“I enjoy working with kids, and this course felt like a good opportunity to do so,” said Cook, who just completed his senior year. “I also thought the mission was great, to give kids a positive role model and to teach them about construction.”
 
From basic principles of construction to future career options in the field, the team of students brought a new concept from the construction industry into the classroom through an interactive project each week. The Ball State students and kindergartners worked in small groups on the week’s projects, which can range from constructing a toolbox to even stretching student’s creativity with just a few supplies.
“I did various hands-on activities as a way to get my assigned student’s mind thinking toward a construction type of critical thinking,” Cook said. “Some things we did during this semester were building bird houses, leprechaun traps, Easter baskets, and coloring eggs.”
 
Let’s Build serves as an opportunity for construction management majors like Cook to expose youth to such an important industry and interact with the community in a unique way.
“Ball State’s construction management program has been amazing,” Cook said. “The knowledge I have learned from the professors is extraordinary.”

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