On March 30, 2023, Elicia Feasel came to Penn to talk about the South Bend Tradeworks summer class for Penn Building Trades students. To start things off, she posed a few questions (“Who are preservation trades workers?”, “Why are preservation trades workers important?”, and “Why is maintaining a historic building important?”) to PNN that she claimed “you might learn the answer to if you were to attend Tradeworks field school this summer” (Feasel 2023).
The Tradeworks Field School will meet from June 12th through the 16th, 2023, from 9 AM to 3 PM. They will cover (as topics) plaster, windows, stucco, floors, and carpentry. Participants can connect with local tradespeople if they are interested in future employment opportunities. Tradeworks Field School is free to attend, and lunch is provided there.
To be eligible for participation in the Tradeworks Field School, one must meet the following requirements/prerequisites:
- Must be a junior or senior (in this case, classes of 2023 and 2024)
- Must be “a high school trades student currently enrolled” (Feasel 2023)
The site of Tradeworks Field School is the Kizer House (built 1888) in South Bend.
For more information, you can go to the South Bend Tradeworks Field School webpage.
Reah Frydrych 
Nathan Tingle 
Brandon Hall