Bricklayer Apprentice places 3rd at MCAA Competition
BAC Local 23 apprentice Scott Schooley competed at the MCAA Skills Challenge in Las Vegas on Jan. 24 and finished in third place.
Scott Schooley (left) with BAC Local 23 Secretary-Treasurer Don Huss, President Ken Kudela and Northern Ohio Regional Training Center Instructor Don Robinson stand in front of Schooley's completed project at the MCAA Skills Challenge competition.
One of the two Bricklayers and Allied Crafts Local 23 apprentices from Northeast Ohio who participated in a national apprentice competition last month at the World of Concrete/World of Masonry in Las Vegas placed in the top three.
On Jan. 24, Scott Schooley competed against other apprentices from across the nation in the MCAA Skills Challenge and took third place. Fellow Local 23 Bricklayer apprentice Steve Berlin also competed in the competition.
The MCAA Skills Challenge, which is held annually in Sin City each January, brings together the nation’s top bricklayer apprentices, who showcase their skills in a friendly competition.
Contestants are grouped by skill level, as all participants must build a project over the span of three hours without seeing the specs prior to the start of the event. This means competitors cannot practice the design. They are also not allowed to consult with their instructor during the competition.
Schooley, 25, a third-year apprentice from Lorain, experienced many emotions going into the competition, but kept them in check in order to focus on the tasks at hand.
“I was a little nervous, but I had a good idea of what I was doing,” he said. “Nervous yet excited, so I was having mixed feelings.”
No stranger to apprentice competitions, Schooley qualified for Las Vegas after he took first place in the qualifying competition in October 2023 at the Detroit Metro Training Center.
Schooley, who is employed by Metropolitan Builders, Inc., enjoyed the entire experience and appreciated the opportunity to showcase his skills alongside the top apprentices in the U.S.
“I think it’s a really cool idea to see who the best in the trade is and watch how others do certain things,” he said.
Next year will be Schooley’s last chance to be in the competition before he tops out as a journeyman – and he wants to win it all.
“My goal is to win regionals next year and be able to qualify again,” he said. “My goal is to always get to that big stage and show everyone what I can do.”
Jairo Cabera, Field Representative for the Local 23 North Shore Chapter, was proud of Schooley’s third-place finish and hopes he realizes what an accomplishment it was to make it that far.
“He will definitely be back next year,” Cabera said. “His contractors love his work ethic and how he pays attention to detail. He will go far in this career.”
Cabera added that Schooley is motivated, full of drive and a hard worker.
“He is a person who surprises you when you first meet him because he seems so young and full of energy, but when you get to know him, you see what he brings to the table,” Cabera said.
Besides Schooley, Berlin, a fourth-year apprentice, also competed and proudly represented Local 23.
“Steve should be proud of himself, too,” Cabera said. “Steve works on repairing and restoring old buildings, and for him to get to that point where he is competing against guys at different experience levels than him is an achievement in itself.”
Schooley’s finish came a year after Garrick Manning, then a fourth-year apprentice from Lewis Center Township (north of Columbus), took home a second-place finish in the contest.
Once again, the contest proved that some of the best bricklayers in the nation reside in Ohio.
Over the last decade, numerous apprentices from the State of Ohio have not only competed in International-level competitions, such as the MCAA Skills Challenge, but have won or finished in the top-three.
These consistent results are a credit to instructors at the Northern Ohio and Southern Ohio Regional Training Centers, and the BAC journeymen who mentor the apprentices.