At ‘Construction Academy,’ students get pay, credit, and experience

SANFORD N.C. — Learning, earning, and moving dirt: that’s how Ayden Mashburn spent his summer.

Mashburn, who is now attending Central Carolina Community College, was one of 12 students from six local high schools who completed the nine-week 2025 Construction Academy held by Sanford Contractors, Inc. in partnership with CCCC. 

Students worked alongside Sanford Contractors mentors gaining valuable industry experience, building new skills, and laying the foundation for potential future careers — all while getting paid and earning CCCC college credit. 

The summer program started out with a week of classroom training, followed by a couple months of hands-on work interspersed with visits from guest speakers and with other educational opportunities. 

“The first ‘action week’ I was out there, I was running a dump truck and backing up and everything,” said Mashburn, who also worked with a shovel and learned how to control erosion as part of the company’s site grading team.

Following the program, six of the students have returned to high school, four are attending community college, and one is attending a four-year university. Two are working full-time with Sanford Contractors and five are working part-time. 

Working and learning together brought the group close quickly, Mashburn said.

“We didn’t even know each other on the first day,” he said, “but by that Friday, we were all good friends.”

This is the third summer CCCC has partnered with Sanford Contractors for the academy. Participants are enrolled in both a Basic Construction Careers course and a work-based learning course, where they are paired with a mentor from Sanford Contractors.

This pre-apprenticeship program provides high school students with an opportunity to explore careers in construction while gaining hands-on experience and mentorship from industry professionals, according to Dr. Sara Allen Newcomb, CCCC’s Dean of Business and Applied Technologies.

At the same time, she said, the program helps Sanford Contractors build a strong workforce development pipeline preparing skilled, motivated students to transition seamlessly into full apprenticeships and future careers within the company. 

“By connecting education with real-world experience, the program benefits both students and the local construction industry,” Dr. Newcomb said.