Job Corp Students Relocate to Work on BlueOval SK Battery Park

Two BAC bricklayer apprentices from the Job Corps program are learning the trade and gaining experience on one of the largest construction projects in the US right now – the BlueOval SK Battery Park in Glendale, KY. BlueOval SK, a joint venture with SK On, is a $5.8 billion investment which consists of twin battery manufacturing facilities that will produce batteries for the next generation of Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles. The Barton Malow Company, a BAC signatory contractor, is the general contractor on the job, subcontracting the masonry work to signatories Dodds Masonry and Leidal and Hart. As this issue goes to press, phase 1 of the project, expected to last the next five and a half years, is underway.

BAC Local 4 IN/KY member Omar Rodriguez relocated from Chicago to the Elizabethtown, KY area in April for the opportunity to work on the project. Rodriguez learned about Job Corps a few years ago from a friend who completed the program.

He joined the Paul Simon Job Corps Center in September 2022 and out of 14 trades, chose to enter the IMI bricklaying program. He is grateful for the support he receives on the job to help apprentices like himself succeed.

Asked what he likes about this opportunity, Rodriguez shared “I like the fact you can move around, it’s hands on, you’re learning how to use the tools, how to read the blueprints, what the journeyworker needs to lay their block or lay whatever’s being built.”

BAC Local 4 IN/KY member Lance House also relocated from Chicago in April for the opportunity to work on the BlueOval SK Battery Park. Before joining Job Corps at Paul Simon, House worked in welding with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 in IL for a year. He enjoyed the work but saw an ad on TikTok for Job Corps that caught his attention. He joined Job Corps in August 2022.

“We’re proud to have these talented, dedicated Job Corps graduates working on such a monumental project,” IMI National Job Corps Director Jonas Elmore said. “Omar and Lance may both have the unique opportunity to start and finish their apprenticeship working for a single employer on this plant.”

“Everyone has been welcoming and instructors teach critical skills for adult life, like the importance of paying bills and showing up on time,” House said. “A lot of people are in home situations where they don’t learn important skills like that.”

When asked what he enjoys about being a bricklayer, House shared, “I fell in love with it. It’s a skill. I love everything about bricklaying. In the future I can say, ‘I built downtown.’ I can actually say ‘I built that battery plant.’ I was on the wall building it, real mortar and everything.”

The future is bright for Omar and Lance as they take advantage of this opportunity to learn and gain experience working on a project of the magnitude that is the BlueOval SK Battery Park. To learn more about BAC’s and IMI’s involvement in Job Corps, visit: https://www.imtef.org/job-corps-program/.