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Credit: WFSB Connecticut News 

MIDDLETOWN, CT (WFSB) – Channel 3 is your back to school authority and we know college students will be heading back to school very soon.

This week we are profiling other teenagers who are already joining the work force and making good money thanks to Connecticut Technical High Schools.

Roger Susanin introduces us to a young man who has proven he can measure up to the challenge.

At 17, Carter Cockrell’s already making the cut as a union carpenter.

“I enjoy assembling stuff — putting something together,” Cockrell said.

Cockrell just graduated here at Vinal Technical High School in Middletown but he’s already working on major projects.

“Right now we are doing a science building at Wesleyan,” he said. “And what I’m doing is steel stud and other labor tasks.”

Cockrell’s grateful to get so much support from his boss Christopher Clare at Professional Drywall Construction.

“He’s been doing great – all the guys like him he’s fit right in right from the beginning,” Clare said.

But Clare admits he’s a little jealous of his newest protege.

You see the carpenter’s union just lowered the minimum joining age to 17.

This means Cockrell is already an apprentice who could become a journeyman at 21 making more than 69 dollars an hour in wages and benefits!

“It’s a real good opportunity,” said David Jarvis, North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. “You have to work really hard for it and you have to develop the skills to do it but there’s a great opportunity if you’re willing to seize it.”

Jarvis says right now young carpenters like Cockrell are in an ideal position because there is a major labor shortage.

“As long as someone shows up every day works hard is teachable willing to learn than the skies the limit,” Jarvis said.

A survey by the Associated General Contractors of America reports 85 percent of contractors struggle to find enough carpenters.