Natalie Payton wants to be prepared for the future after she graduates from Warrenton High School in 2024.

So the freshman was pretty excited when she attended Career Day on April 17 at Sellenriek Construction in Jonesburg. The event targeted high school students who do not have a career path after high school graduation.

Payton said the field trip has already inspired her to consider construction work as her career path.

“I’ll put more time into it and think about it,” Payton said. “If this is the best option for me, I’m definitely going to take it.”

Out of the 10 Warrenton students who went to the event, Payton was the only freshman. The rest were juniors and seniors.

“She is part of our Innovation Design Club (at school) and this is why she was able to attend the event,” said Michael Trotter, one of the industrial technology teachers at Warrenton High.

Six Wright City High students also attended Career Day. Junior Hayden Kendall said he learned some valuable advice from the event.

“You’ve got to have great teamwork, help each other and know what you’re doing,” Kendall said.

Kendall’s classmate, Mason Kunkel, said he plans on going to technical school after he graduates from Wright City in 2022.

“I like working with wires and doing hands on stuff all of the time,” Kunkel said.

The Career Day event had a total of 30 students. It also included students from Montgomery County High School.

All of the students got to learn about the 42-year history of Sellenriek Construction as well as finding job opportunities after they graduate from high school.

The event began with vice president Steve Sellenriek talking to the students about the company as well as the expectations of seeking employment after high school. Then, the students got to learn how to climb up a pole, splice up wire and locate underground utilities.

“It was great,” Payton said. “There were a lot of interesting things that I saw. There were some things that I probably considered putting research into to see if I enjoyed it a bit more. But it was a very interesting experience and I like to see more.”

Sellenriek said the company has a mix of employees who graduated from high school and college.

“We have graduates here from State Tech, Missouri, Washington University, University of Central Missouri, but we also got people who came right out of high school,” the vice president said. “We look for talent anywhere we can find it.”

Sellenriek Construction, which began in 1979, operates from five locations. It is also one of 25 employers across the country to be asked to participate in an apprenticeship program being offered by the Department of Labor.

“I always joke that we’re Jonesburg’s best kept secret,” said Michelle Heiliger, Sellenriek’s human resources director. “I don’t think most people really know what we do or how far reaching what we do is. We employ 250 people with five shops across the state. We specialize in fiber optic construction.”

Sellenriek Construction has over 30 career opportunities that include job site inspector, safety manager, utility locator, laborer and construction foreman. Heilinger said the focus of Career Day was to educate the students about possible apprenticeship programs and career opportunities close to home.

“This could potentially steer kids to go into a technical school to learn a trade,” Heiliger said. “But we have a lot of people who come to us and don’t have an education. They come here because they want to be able to pay the bills and support their families, so we offer trades in order they could learn. We can teach everything internally that they need to know. They just come to us with a good work ethic.”