By Christian Coffman

NATCHEZ — One Franklin County student is doing his part to close the skills gap in the construction industry.

Franklin County High School student Isaiah Elam competed last week at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Ky.

Elam came in 12th place out of 46 competitors in the carpentry division and received the Keep Craft Alive scholarship, worth $5,000, for proficiency in construction or engineering.

Elam said he is grateful for the experience in every way, even though he was mildly disappointed that he did not make the top 10.

“If I could go back, I wouldn’t change anything,” Elam said. “It happened the way it was supposed to.”

The Keep Craft Alive scholarship was created to help fix the disparity that makes up the “skills gap,” the disparity between the employment demands of a growing housing industry and the shortage of trained, qualified workers.

Elam’s mother, Leri Elam, said her son had to submit an essay prior to the conference, and had to win first place in the state conference.

“For two years in a row he received a gold medal for carpentry in the SkillsUSA State competition,” Leri said.

Isaiah also received a certificate for his good scores in the competition’s competency in areas test, which included tools and safety, assembly and planning, window framing, job site organization, accuracy of cuts and more.

Along with completing a written test, Isaiah competed in a timed construction project, in which he had eight hours to complete.

“It challenged my craftiness; I had to accurately bring the drawings to life in a select amount of time,” Isaiah said. “I didn’t have a common structure, I had to construct based on learned practices. The drawings were carefully designed to test these learned practices.

SkillsUSA public relations manager Karen Kitzel said the more than 6,000 contestants were judged by leaders in the skills industries.

“We brought in professionals … to judge based on real world experiences that they would have to know on the job,” KItzel said.

Isaiah plans to attend Mississippi State University.