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Brick by Brick: Laying the Foundation for Excellence

On December 21, 2007 the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers District Council of Wisconsin (BACWI) held their annual apprentice bricklaying competition for third-year apprentices. The competition consisted of nine competitors who each had three hours to complete a recreation of a pre-designed brick structure. The apprentices were then judged on multiple criteria, including level, range, plum, dimension and time.

Mark Graf, the International Masonry Institute (IMI) Bricklaying Instructor and Training Coordinator, designed the brick structure the students had to re-create and was also on hand to oversee the competition. He was named a 2007 Outstanding Apprenticeship Instructor by the national Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers.

“This competition helps teach the apprentices about timelines, quality and determination,” said Graf. “We stress quality workmanship in our apprenticeship program. The first person to finish their project won't necessarily win the competition because we also take into account how well the project is constructed.”

The contest also helps gauge how well each apprentice is progressing in their training. This gives instructors a chance to provide extra help as needed to get each student to graduation with the highest skill level possible.

In order to graduate from the bricklaying apprenticeship program, students must complete 4,620 hours of training. The apprentices competing were all third-year students with over 2,000 hours of training. A second competition took place on February 1 for first-year students and a third will take place on February 29 for second-year students. The winners of the local competition will go on to the state bricklaying competition in Sheboygan.

The winner of the third-year apprentice competition was Kalvin Norquist, who currently works for Signature Masonry and will complete his apprenticeship in May of this year. Congratulations to Kalvin and best of luck to the apprentices who have yet to compete.

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