Academy builds the future

Burlington program blends book learning, construction training

Jordan Koster, 17, is one of 52 students in Burlington's Construction Career Academy, a school within a school that sets students on a path to become anything from bricklayers to electricians to experts in computer-aided design.
The academy, the first of its kind in the state (Wisconsin), launched at Burlington in the fall of 2005. It's become the model for a Fond du Lac program that started this fall, and for others planned in Marshfield, La Crosse, Beloit and Sun Prairie, said Bob Barker, vice president of the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin.