RATHDRUM — The bucket on the miniature excavator inched forward, swung out and dropped onto a stack of tires as Xanaia Dahlstrom diligently moved the levers to accomplish her task.

“It was really fun,” the Lake City High School sophomore said Friday morning. "It runs really smoothly and the way it moves is really intuitive. It did take a little bit for me to figure it out.”

Guiding her was Jim Sieck, a retired construction worker and business owner with extensive knowledge of heavy machinery. It was his sixth year volunteering as a community partner for the Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs skilled trades high school career day at the Kootenai Technical Education Campus in Rathdrum.

Sieck said a massive mine truck was on site when he first volunteered at the event.

"At the time, it paid $32 an hour to start, and that was when you were being trained," he said. "Six years ago, 32 bucks an hour was a nice wage."

More than 400 students from high schools throughout Kootenai, Shosone, Bonner and Benewah counties donned hard hats and their H4 T-shirts as they participated in the career day at KTEC, engaging with industry professionals and enjoying hands-on experiences with equipment and machinery.

Coeur d'Alene High School freshman Daymian Reese was right at home using a remote control to move a compactor.

"I got a lot of redneck ingenuity in my family so I know how to run things," he said. "It really ain’t my first rodeo."

He said he plans to go into underwater welding and already has his scuba diver's license.

"I’m a very hands-on person. I never do things online, that ain’t for me," he said. "Online can tell you, ‘It’s easy-friendly,’ but at the end of the day you won’t know what it’s like until you actually put the hard work in and get arthritis. That’s what matters."

Lake City High sophomores Aurora Johnson, Lexi Larwin and Karingtin Hayes worked at the carpentry station to cut and screw together pieces of wood to be used as plant stands or other home decor.

Hayes said she can see herself working on construction sites in her professional future. She and her peers enjoyed the different activities at the H4 event.

“I think it’s very educational, especially for someone who wants a good income in the future and is looking to support a family and their goals and adventures in life," she said.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for a bunch of kids that are trying to figure out what they want to do,” Larwin said. "There’s so many different fields.”

Although Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs is hosted by KTEC, it is not a KTEC recruiting event, but rather a community event open to students within and outside KTEC's partner school districts.

"A lot of the high schools come here because they don’t live in our region," said KTEC's college and career adviser Kristin Parker. "That doesn’t mean we don’t want to support them in getting those programs up and running."

She said she believes students are the biggest push when it comes to communities having educational resources such as KTEC.

"They’re the biggest, loudest force for that to happen," she said. "I would love to see a KTEC in the Mullan School District or in the Sandpoint area. I would love to see that for Bonners Ferry.”

Tatianna Felix, a community partner with the nonprofit Associated Builders and Contractors Inland Pacific, said H4 is an avenue for her organization's workforce development program.

“Looking back to my education, I wasn’t given options," she said. "It was, ‘What are you going to be when you grow up?’ and you got to figure it out and learn without any exposure, whereas here the point is to expose (students) to things that are possibilities and show them KTEC can help build them up before they’re sent into the work field.”

The need for skilled labor right now is huge, Felix said. The amount of men and women who are retiring and leaving the field are not being replaced at the same rate they once were.

Raising awareness about successful trades careers is important, she said.

"There’s a narrative that it’s that dirty, dead-end job for people that aren’t skilled enough to do other jobs, which is a lie," Felix said. "These people are brilliant with their hands. They’re more tactile learners, so they would succeed greatly.”

The pay is good too, she said.

“And you don’t have all the debt from college,” she said.

H4 is held in conjunction with KTEC, North Idaho College Parker Technical Education Center, area high schools and numerous industry partners.

    Coeur d'Alene High School freshman Daymian Reese, center, points as he controls a compactor Friday morning at the Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs event at KTEC. He is flanked by classmates Fynyx Workman, left, and Justin Gilmore.
  

    From left, Lake City High sophomores Aurora Johnson, Lexi Larwin and Karingtin Hayes show off small wood pieces they fashioned at the carpentry station Friday morning during Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs at KTEC.