Philadelphia’s First Heavy Metal Summer Experience

Fourteen young people got an up-close look at what a career in the skilled trades can offer this summer as Ernest D. Menold, Inc. hosted Philadelphia’s first Heavy Metal Summer Experience (HMSE), culminating in a graduation celebration on August 6.

Over the course of three weeks, campers stepped inside the sheet metal industry with hands-on experience using tools, fabricating metal projects, learning about HVAC systems and workplace safety, and working alongside industry professionals. Thirteen of the 14 campers came from Mercy Career & Technical High School.

But the experience went beyond learning how to work with sheet metal.

Campers also visited the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 Training Center, where they gained exposure to the apprenticeship pathway and learned how the work they began in the shop connects to fabrication, installation, testing and balancing in the field. The goal was to give students a realistic view of both the work and the career opportunities available within the industry.

At graduation, Ernest P. Menold reflected on what stood out most about the group: their willingness to show up, learn, take pride in their work and help one another.

He encouraged the students to carry that same sense of care into whatever comes next, noting that technical skills can be taught, but attitude, teamwork and pride in one’s work are qualities that can set someone apart throughout a career.

Heavy Metal Summer Experience was founded in 2021 to address a challenge familiar throughout the construction industry: how to introduce young people to rewarding careers in the trades before they have already chosen another path.

The Philadelphia camp demonstrated exactly what that model can accomplish.

Bringing it to the region required collaboration across the industry. Ernest D. Menold hosted the camp and provided its team, shop and expertise, with additional support from Heavy Metal Summer Experience and Dean Fox; Robert McFadden and the Local 19 Training Center; Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 19; Jennifer Lohr of Fisher Balancing Company; Mercy Career & Technical High School; and the students’ families.

DEWALT, Milwaukee Tool, the Sheet Metal Contractors Association of Philadelphia & Vicinity, Alro Steel and J.A. Cunningham Equipment Inc. also provided support through donations of funding, materials, equipment, resources and time.

For SMCA, supporting programs like Heavy Metal Summer Experience is an investment in the future of the industry. Creating opportunities for young people to experience the trades firsthand helps build awareness of careers that offer strong earning potential, continued advancement and a pathway into the workforce without requiring a traditional four-year degree.

The first Philadelphia camp may have ended, but for its graduates, the experience could represent a beginning.

Congratulations to all 14 campers and to the contractors, instructors, sponsors, families and industry partners who came together to make Philadelphia’s first Heavy Metal Summer Experience possible.