BITA Students Tour Warmington Homes California

Contact: Sarah Bruckner: 949-553-9500
IRVINE, CA – Recently, Warmington Homes California, under the direction of Terry Hardgrave, VP of Purchasing and a current member of the Board of Directors, opened their doors to the top 15 BITA (Building Industry Technology Academy) students from Katella High School in Anaheim.

The BITA curriculum is a four-year program (Freshman through Senior year) that teaches high school students in-depth construction knowledge and skills training. It provides unique hands-on construction assignments, mentoring, professional presentations and field trips to active construction sites. Students experience every facet of residential construction, including site preparation, framing, electrical, plumbing, roofing and more.

This comprehensive program is a model for private-public partnerships working to better educate local students. Developed by the Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange County Chapter (BIA/OC) in the summer of 2003, they completed a $250,000 remodel donated by members of the BIA/OC and turned the underutilized facility at Katella High School into a premiere construction program. With help from the education leaders at North Orange County Regional Occupation Program and the Anaheim Union High School District, the coalition has expanded the program to Western High School in Anaheim and Valencia High School in Placentia.

Through the generosity of BIA/OC members, like Terry Hargrave, those enrolled in the BITA program are able to experience the many sides of the industry under the leadership of respected professionals. During the fieldtrip, students toured the offices and had the opportunity to sit down with employees: Jim Warmington, Jr., President of Warmington Homes California; Jared Knickmeyer, Land Acquisition; Tom Tupman, Project Management; Mark Pulver, Purchasing / Contract Administration; Tom Pulver, Operations/Construction; Allen Morris, Sales and Marketing; and Kathy Rierson, Human Resourses.

Over lunch, each department gave students an overview of their specific roles and responsibilities within the organization. They also shared their personal background, previous work experience and the steps they took in acquiring their present position.

This fieldtrip exposed the BITA students to how a homebuilding company manages the various elements of forward planning, development and implementation. The students boarded the bus back to Katella with new Warmington caps on their heads, t-shirts under their arms, and a new perception of the building industry.

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The Orange County Chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California (BIA/OC) is a non-profit trade association representing more than 1,000 companies employing over 130,000 people affiliated with the home building industry. The BIA/OC mission is to promote proactive participation in the development of economic and community issues in Orange County. The BIA/OC is affiliated with the California BIA and the National Association of Home Builders.
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