FastenMaster Teams with Industry Leader to Educate High School Students About Deck Building with Hands-On Program

AGAWAM, Mass., Jan­u­ary 23, 2023 – As part of its PRO­Con­nec­tions™ Trade School Pro­gram, which con­nects trade schools with pro­fes­sion­al con­trac­tors to encour­age stu­dents to pur­sue careers in con­struc­tion, Fas­ten­Mas­ter recent­ly teamed with the Great Lakes Deck Com­pa­ny of Rochester, Michi­gan, to pro­vide a hands-on deck build­ing expe­ri­ence for a group of 20 high school stu­dents from Oak­land Coun­ty, Michigan.

The pro­gram was offered to high school juniors and seniors inter­est­ed in work­ing in the deck build­ing and con­struc­tion trades and was pre­sent­ed by Chris Tem­ple and Bri­an Hodgkin­son of the Great Lakes Deck Com­pa­ny, with sup­port from Fas­ten­Mas­ter and Aaron Swett, con­struc­tion tech­nol­o­gy instruc­tor for Oak­land Schools Tech­ni­cal Cam­pus­es (OSTC). Great Lakes Deck Com­pa­ny spe­cial­izes in cre­at­ing pre­mi­um decks and out­door liv­ing spaces.

“Nation­al­ly, there is a crit­i­cal short­age of trades peo­ple in all areas of con­struc­tion, includ­ing deck builders,” said David Ellis, direc­tor of sales for Fas­ten­Mas­ter. ​“Through our PRO­Con­nec­tions Trade School Pro­gram, we intro­duce stu­dents to pas­sion­ate pro­fes­sion­al builders who share real-world expe­ri­ence and pro­vide a hands-on training

pro­gram. These events not only empha­size the ben­e­fits of a career in con­struc­tion but also the rewards of build­ing some­thing both last­ing and functional.”

In addi­tion to build­ing the 5 x 13-foot wood frame and com­pos­ite deck from start to fin­ish, the day-long pro­gram includ­ed infor­ma­tion about fram­ing and joist lay-out, includ­ing cal­cu­la­tions for deter­min­ing joist place­ment, how to read blue­prints and fol­low a plan based on tech­ni­cal draw­ings, as well as a dis­cus­sion on best prac­tices for safe­ly build­ing a deck, and a review of local build­ing codes and what offi­cials look for dur­ing project inspec­tions The event was held at the Oak­land Schools Tech­ni­cal Cam­pus (North­east) locat­ed near Pon­ti­ac, Michigan..

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Fas­ten­Mas­ter addressed the impor­tance of using prop­er fas­ten­ers for struc­tur­al and com­pos­ite deck­ing appli­ca­tions and demon­strat­ed the lat­est hid­den fas­ten­ing tech­niques for com­pos­ite deck­ing with the company’s Tiger Claw and Col­lat­ed Cor­tex products.

Fas­ten­Mas­ter, a divi­sion of OMG, Inc., was estab­lished in 1981, and is a brand of fas­ten­ing solu­tions for pro­fes­sion­al con­trac­tors. Its prod­ucts are engi­neered for struc­tur­al, deck­ing, and trim appli­ca­tions in res­i­den­tial con­struc­tion, and its prod­uct line includes the LOK Line of struc­tur­al wood screws, Tiger Claw Hid­den Deck Clip Sys­tem, Truss­BRACE roof truss sup­port sys­tem, as well as Cor­tex Hid­den Fas­ten­ing Sys­tems for deck and trim applications. 

For addi­tion­al infor­ma­tion please con­tact Fas­ten­Mas­ter at 800.518.3569 or vis­it www​.Fas​ten​Mas​ter​.com.