 
Small Mountain on Apprentice-
ships
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AITS (American Indian Trade School)
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Boo'zhoo (hello) and welcome to the humble beginings of my first home page. I am from the Red Cliff
Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa and a member of The Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Apprentice Committee.
The committee is formed to get equal access to training programs of all trades to all tribes. Right now
we are working with tribal representatives, the building trades of Wisconsin, state officals and local
colleges to get training programs on and off the rez. So far there are only a few journeymen carpenters
but there are more on the way, men and women in three trades.
We are developing an introduction
to the building trades class that I call The Woodland Indian Trade Skills Program (WITS how about that).
The program is designed to help tribal members pick a trade, increase their chances of getting hired
in that trade (the first step in apprenticeships) and excel in the training of that trade. The classes
cover tool safety, trade math, blueprint reading, OSHA safety, passive solar design and computer drafting.
It is our hope to get some of the classes on the net. It also includes site safety classes and an intro
to the trade given by each trade.
Years ago the world was amazed at the fearless "indian
skywalkers" building the tall buildings. Anyone who has walked the high iron knows that they were not
so much fearless as the were confident in their training and abilites. Their training began at home when
they were youngsters when their "uncles" put them on the red iron of gyms that they had built on the
rez. It was a community thing then and it should be still.
If any one wants to help, or want
help setting up programs, this is the place. It will be another construction zone so stop in from time
to time and spread the word.
Megwetch (Thankyou)!
Alan Hamann
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