Mad Dog and Matt Jr educating South Bronx Cardinal Hayes Catholic High School Students on the Trades
Matt Jr and I had a great afternoon introducing the young gentlemen at Cardinal Hayes High School in the South Bronx to the plumbing and heating trade and their career options.
In contrast to many other Catholic high schools which focus on college prep, Cardinal Hayes has taken the initiative to promote the path of the trades through their new class “Exploration of the Trades”
Cardinal Hayes High School has produced some NYC greats like Marty Scorsese, Regis Philbin and (briefly before being expelled) George Carlin. They still regularly graduate top athletes that end up in the NBA and NFL.
We kicked off our presentation with reverence paid toward Dan, the Dead Men and Heating Help by showing the students how his leadership (continued by Erin and Andrew) grew and educated a community of everyday plumbers and steam fitters. We made sure to gift several of Dan’s books for the students and staff to enjoy.
As part of our presentation, we kept it interactive by bringing our assorted Ridgid pipe wrenches including our 3-footer to pass around and let the students handle.
These students were chomping at the bit for more information about how I started out and how I built a rewarding life based on this craft.
The program at Cardinal Hayes is taking off and Mad Dog and Matt Jr will be supplying them with mentorship and ample tools and techniques to spur on further exploration. We encouraged them as we wrapped up to visit Heating Help to discover the treasure trove of valuable AND free knowledge that is available here.
Up Hayes!
Comments
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Everyone has been talking about help shortage in the trades for probably 25 years.
I started to sense a change in the last couple of years that the pendulum is just starting to swing back in the correct direction. I hope it is. Hopefully I will be around to see the change.
I also sense a lack of work ethic in the younger generation but that could just be an old man rambling.
I still go to code update classes and it's the same thing. The instructors look around and comment on how many 'gray hairs" they see then they spout off the "average age" of plumbers, electricians and pipe fitters is 56ish etc.
Congratulations on your effort to help things change.
Maybe you should show up with an aluminum 3' you would get more takers? LOL
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I was going to bring in the 4 footer but didn't wanna freak em out ..ha ha..Thanks Ed. These are tough kids - most are also Varsity Athletes used to throwing around dumbells and each other! I must add, Cardinal Hayes is the first Catholic HS in the Five Boroughs and Long Island 🏝 to offer such a class. They are very wise and forward-thinking. We are super excited to Shepard them. Mad Dog
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Our thanks to two great men.
Retired and loving it.1 -
Haha, probably a good call holding off on the 4-footer for now at least! Sounds like those kids can handle just about anything though, especially being varsity athletes. It’s awesome to hear Cardinal Hayes is leading the way with something like this; that kind of forward-thinking approach really sets them apart. You must be excited to be part of it and help guide them looking forward to seeing how it all develops!
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That is my Alma Mater! Up Hayes and all its Loyal Men!
They put discipline above academics and academics above God because, as the Dean of Discipline explained it while I was serving Justice Under God (JUG aka detention) you wont serve God well if you lack discipline and are poorly educated.
The front lawn you stood on used to have two maple trees gifted by the class of '45. In the fall, the leaves on one tree word turn cardinal and the other's leaves turned gold- the schools colors. Or, as George Carlin put it…"Sounds suspiciosly like red and yellow to meee!".One JUG session required us to crawl on our hands and knees and use toothpicks to pick up the leaves and stuff into our pockets. My appreciation for your time to teach. Thank you!
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Make Trades Great Again!!!!
Always enjoyed getting my hands dirty and then admiring the results afterwards. I worked in the utility field but it was day in and day out working live up to 600v, constructing new business jobs and rebuilding old outdated or burned out jobs all while keeping the lights on while you did it. It was frustrating as hell to see the intense focus they began putting on hiring "college" degrees to become supervisors and higher instead of good people from the field that knew how to keep the lights on and actually build stuff.
Get one splicer on a job and we could figure out how to get the empire state building relit if it was out, put 25 college degree supervisors on a job to relight the empire state building and they'd just want to have a meeting and draw up a budget to try and figure out how to get the splicer to do it. Developing hand skills and logic is the key to building great things.
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Well done, @Mad Dog_2 and Matt Jr.! Thanks for sharing your experience with us and for taking the time to teach the next generation about the opportunities that are available within the trades. We also appreciate you encouraging them to check out Heating Help and to continue learning. - Erin
Forum Moderator
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@Mad Dog_2 Amazing. Nothing like getting some motivation, from someone who has lived in trenches. The trades are an awesome and life altering path, for so many of us. Keeping pushing positive association with the trades and let's get those little Doggies barking!!
P.S. I don't mean to nitpick but you are blocking the air flow of that radiator. LOL
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You gotta copyright that slogan!!!
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