It can be stressful when botches on the job are, literally, set in stone

By Gabriel Lagarde



It can be stressful when botches on the job are, literally, set in stone.

“We only get one shot at it, we have to get it right,” said Jasmine Funmaker, a pre-apprentice cement mason and a member of the Ho-Chunk nation. “Other people can fix (their mistakes). We have to get it right the first time.”

That’s a fact of life for Funmaker, currently enrolled in a 12-week course at Cement Masons Local 633 in the Twin Cities. She is one of 13 beneficiaries of a state grant that funds instruction for what was originally a group of 20 students hailing from five tribes represented in Minnesota, which include the Ho-Chunk.

Cement masonry is a trade that involves crafting cement road infrastructure like sidewalks, curbs and road embankments.

While cement masonry may initially seem like a simple, cut-and-dry task, it is actually a trade that requires a high level of dexterity and precision in order to create a product that is structurally sound, geometrically exact, visually pleasing and designed properly for rain runoff.

These skills take a long time to acquire. After her 12-week pre-apprenticeship is completed, Funmaker faces another four years as an apprentice, followed by roughly six years as a journeymen before she can be considered a fully qualified cement mason.
“You can’t just watch someone, you have to get your hands in there to know how it feels,” Funmaker said, in the middle of a tedious training exercise. “Do one thing wrong and the mud dries and the rocks stick out.”

Moke Eaglefeathers, an instructor at Local 633 and one of the founders of the program, said he sees a bright future for future cement masons, especially those of Native American background. Programs like these offer an avenue for students to work in a profitable trade for themselves and one that is vital for their own communities.

“There’s a big need of all these new casinos, all this new housing, but no one to build them so (tribes) outsource it,” Eaglefeather said. “Why don’t they build from within?”

Eaglefeathers said the cement masonry trade is one that doesn’t accrue debt like a traditional four-year degree to learn (in fact, he estimated apprentices may make over $300,000 in a comparable timeframe), provides on the job experience and is always in demand. He said it is also a great source of pride and independence for young Native Americans.

He said he hopes his students can look to him as an example.

“If I can do it, they can do it,” Eaglefeathers said. “It gives them something to strive for. It’s about pride. It gives them worth.”

The grant is currently limited to Minnesota residents, but Eaglefeather hopes to grow the training program to where it can attract Native American candidates from across the country to study at Local 633, the number one ranked instructional institute in the nation, or even creating specific programs for individual tribes like the Ho-chunk.

Funmaker heard of the program from a friend. Lacking direction after two years studying to be a nurse, a time where she said she “ran with the wrong crowd,” performed poorly in school and faced academic suspension, she looked into cement masonry and decided to take a chance.

“It was originally my plan B that came around at the right time,” she said.

Now, with the better part of the program done and in the books, Eaglefeathers said Funmaker is excelling in her training for a profession that is male dominated, evidenced by her place as one of only two women in the program.

Eaglefeathers said diversity is one of his main focuses as an instructor, both in terms of ethnicity and gender. He said shaping trainees into full-fledged cement masons and watching their growth is the most rewarding aspect of his job.

“The hardest part is discipline in themselves,” Eaglefeathers said. “The best part is when they prove to themselves they can do it. Once they hit that concrete and see the finished look the first time it comes out perfect, the look on their faces is priceless.”



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