Arkansas Construction Education Foundation

Celebrating Our Carpentry Graduates! 🎓
We are proud to celebrate the first seven graduates of our relaunched Carpentry Apprenticeship Program. Over the past three years, these apprentices have balanced full-time work with classroom instruction while developing the skills, knowledge, and hands-on experience needed to succeed in their careers. During that time, their training extended beyond the classroom through community and large-scale projects that allowed them to apply their skills while making a meaningful impact in the communities they serve.
We would like to thank ACEF Board Member, William Fletcher, and the entire Kinco Constructors team for their leadership and support in helping relaunch this program. A special thank you also goes to our Level 4 instructor, Brannon Runions, for investing in these apprentices throughout their training and for helping make graduation day a memorable celebration.
Congratulations to these graduates on this outstanding achievement. We are proud of all they have accomplished and look forward to seeing the impact they make in the years ahead. 🔨👏

On June 6th, we proudly celebrated our 2026 Graduates as they completed their Apprenticeship training!👏

This year's graduating class included more than 170 Electrical, HVAC, and Plumbing apprentices from across Arkansas who successfully completed their apprenticeship programs. Over the past several years, these apprentices balanced full-time work with classroom instruction while developing the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience needed to succeed in the skilled trades. Congratulations to all of our graduates on this achievement. We are proud of your dedication and look forward to seeing the impact you will make in the industry! 🎓

Thank you to APAC Central for highlighting Lucas Byrne and the impact he is making as an instructor in our Fayetteville Pre-Apprenticeship program.
Lucas has invested countless hours into helping students learn about the construction industry and explore careers in the skilled trades. We are grateful for his commitment to these students and the example he sets as both an industry professional and instructor. Be sure to support APAC and take a moment to read the article below!

APAC-Central's Impact on Arkansas Construction Education Foundation (ACEF) - APAC Central Lucas Byrne, Project Manager at APAC-Central, recently spent the past year giving back to the industry as an instructor with the Arkansas Construction Education Foundation (ACEF) Pre-Apprenticeship program.

Congratulations to the graduates of our Fayetteville Pre-Apprenticeship program!

Thank you to Fayetteville Public Schools, our instructors, and industry partners for helping create this opportunity for students. It was great to celebrate the hard work these students have put in throughout the year and recognize everything they accomplished!

The graduation ceremonies continue with our Fort Smith Pre-Apprenticeship program! Over the past 9 months, these students have dedicated their evenings to building hands-on skills, exploring careers in construction, and preparing for their futures in the trades.
We are incredibly proud of the hard work and commitment these students have shown throughout the program and thankful for the support and participation from the teams at Forsgren Inc. and Peak Innovation Center who helped make this experience possible!

We’re incredibly honored to be featured by AGC of America as part of the recognition surrounding the Bowen Prize for Great Builders. Thank you to Cass Sobek, at Kiewit Corporation, and the AGC Education & Research Foundation for choosing to invest this award back into workforce development here in Arkansas.

Read the full article here:

Cass Sobek's Bowen Prize Recognition Supports New Arkansas Workforce Training Campus - AGC News 2026 Bowen Prize for Great Builders winner celebrated a milestone with the Arkansas Construction Education Foundation to strengthen Arkansas construction.

Yesterday, we completed the last step in finalizing the construction loan. Huge thank you to First Security Bank for helping make this possible and supporting the future of construction education in Arkansas. We’re excited to continue building a campus that reflects the future of construction industry. Construction is officially underway!

Only 4 seats remain for this weekend’s Blueprint Reading course!
We’re excited to be offering a new Blueprint Reading course designed around the real demands of the jobsite. The class will be held this Saturday, May 16, 2026 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the Kinco Training Center in Little Rock. The cost is $250 per person and lunch will be provided.

Call the office or email [email protected] to get signed up before the remaining seats are filled!

We’re excited to be offering a new Blueprint Reading course designed around the real demands of the jobsite. This course will cover:

- Purpose and types of construction drawings
- How drawings are organized, including title blocks, legends, and notes
- Lines, legends, and common abbreviations used across trades
- Reading scales and understanding dimensions
- Interpreting floor plans, elevations, sections, and details
- Pulling material and layout information directly from plans
- Understanding the different layers within a set of blueprints

The class will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2026 from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the Kinco Training Center in Little Rock. The cost is $250 per person, and lunch will be provided. Call the office or email [email protected] to get signed up!

Last week, we had the opportunity to celebrate a group of our pre-apprentices in Conway alongside our partners at Weaver-Bailey Contractors. We’re incredibly grateful for their investment in these students and their continued support of workforce development. Over the past year, these students have gained hands-on experience in jobsite safety, construction math and drawings, heavy equipment and crane safety, concrete work, and drone surveying. More importantly, they’ve shown consistency, hard work, and a willingness to learn each week they walked into class.
A special thank you to our instructor, John Hankins with NABCO Mechanical & Electrical Inc., for the time, knowledge, and dedication he poured into these students throughout the year. We’re proud of this group and thankful for the people and partners helping invest in their future.

It’s been great to see the Fayetteville pre-apprenticeship program in action. These students are putting in the time to learn real skills, get comfortable with the tools, and start figuring out what a future in the trades can look like. We’re proud to partner with Career and Technical Education in Fayetteville Public Schools and appreciate the effort these students are putting in every week. Excited to see where this group goes next!