Joining the future

When the van unloaded at the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center and the students headed inside, it was apparent this was no ordinary field trip. The 13 welding trainees from the Pine Ridge Job Corps in Chadron, Nebraska, made the journey to experience Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) for themselves.

Ira McKillip, a welding instructor at the Civilian Conservation Center, spent time with the students investigating SURF before their excursion.

“During an OSHA training program, I met a couple of engineers from SURF, and they invited us to come for a visit,” McKillip said. Together with his students, McKillip, an OSHA 30 trainer and a sergeant in the Nebraska National Guard, watched videos on YouTube to see if the trip to SURF would be beneficial to the students.

Most of the students at the multi-disciplinary facility are between the ages of 17 and 22, and include students from Iowa and Nebraska. McKillip also noted the Forest Service Department of Agriculture program includes a number of international students, many of whom are refugees settling in the Omaha area.

Experiencing a real-life application like SURF to complement their training is a key part of the Job Corps program. “The training is designed to build a career. ‘I can do a job,’” McKillip said. The interactions help the future welders envision a career and learn hands-on skills.

“We start with the metallurgy when they get started and move towards job-specific training,” McKillip added. As they develop their skills, they are encouraged to accept internships so they can help hone their specific areas of interest, even down to the employer. “The closer they get to graduation, the more they narrow it down to the company standards.”

For two of the students visiting SURF, they were about as close to graduation as they could get. Viviana Castillo and Mike Wzorek, both of Omaha, would be graduating the next day. Their next stop would then be welding positions in Maine. Wzorek will be working at a shipyard and Castillo plans to service oil rigs in the north Atlantic.

So why Maine? “All of the job opportunities,” said Castillo. “I kind of want to live up there.”

Having opportunities to learn about real-world opportunities like SURF before completing the Job Corps program, said McKillip, helps students form ideas about careers. One student already has plans to work with heavy equipment in the U.S. Forest Service firefighting division when he graduates. Said Castillo of her plans and preparations, “I’m going to enjoy learning the marine pipe fitting.”

Wzorek anticipates a long-term career in the northeastern shipyards. “Bath Iron Works does work on the United States naval destroyers.” Despite his forward-thinking plans, Wzorek also recognized the benefit of the two-year program at Pine Ridge. “It is helping me grow up.”

The summer of 2023 saw the first internship between the Box Elder Job Corps in Nemo, South Dakota and SURF when Shot’e Snell joined the SURF Facilities Department as an electrical trainee. The importance of skilled workers at the underground facility continues to be a focus with the development of the LBNF/DUNE (Long Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment), which will bring hundreds of skilled workers to the northern Black Hills.

Julie Dahl, a science education specialist with SURF, who facilitated the day’s program with the future welders, asked them about how to connect their training with the requirements of installing and welding deep underground. “How many of you wanted to join things together?”

For these young adults taking their first steps into their technical careers, seeing the possibilities of real-life experience at places like SURF are already joining their training with their futures.