The first group of Hawkeye Community College students to sign up for the Floor Covering Education Foundation (FCEF) 10-week Basic Flooring Installation program have graduated. The program kicked off on June 20 and ran through August 30 in Waterloo, Iowa. 

Six students were approved for scholarships by the FCEF with four of those completing the program. Two of the students were unable to finish the course at this time due to personal reasons. They will be allowed to return to the college and finish when the program is offered again. 

Aiden Nielsen, Freddy Lihole, Darlington Debah and Jerral Dixon received certificates of completion from the school. Nielsen had several job interviews prior to graduation and has accepted one. The other students are working with a flooring group to get on-the-job experience, so they can go full time at some point following graduation, according to Kaye Whitener, director of operations, FCEF.

Nielsen’s father and grandfather worked in HVAC, so naturally, he felt that would be a good place for him to start a career. He began looking into HVAC classes at Hawkeye, and Jerry Orr, trade and industry coordinator—Business and Community Education, Hawkeye Community College, suggested he look at their new flooring program. Nielsen admits he has enjoyed the course, specifically working with luxury vinyl plank (LVP) and carpet. 

According to John Steier, tile instructor, and owner, Steier Flooring in Algona, Iowa, Nielsen is a “non-stereotypical 19-year-old. He has led by example here. He has beat me to the building a couple of mornings. He is also one of the last ones to leave.” 

Lihole, Debah and Dixon made their way to America from the country of Liberia in West Africa in search of opportunity and feel they have found it in the installation program. For Debah, his wish was to find a job working with his hands. He recalls tile setting being the primary floor covering used in Liberia, so he was eager to learn tile installation. According to Debah, the job market in West Africa does not offer them the same opportunity to attend school tuition free, which is a major barrier to securing a career in the skilled trades. 

Dixon currently works at a chicken processing plant and seeks to find a career that will allow him “to build on his future for tomorrow.” Like Debah, he expresses the disparity in the pay rate in his country compared to the U.S. “We come here to make our life better,” he said. 

According to Dixon, his greatest struggle has been balancing work and school, but he understands that hard work is what it takes to succeed. “To be able to achieve your goal is not going to be easy,” he said. 

“Jerral has done a great job,” said Steier. “When we give him information, he takes it, processes it and does something with it. It’s amazing to see what you can do with that.” 

Coming from a trade background with over 25 years’ experience working in carpentry, Orr has been with Hawkeye for 10 years, coordinating the Business and Community Education department, and has played an integral role in getting the FCEF program into the department’s curriculum. 

“I have really enjoyed implementing this new program here at Hawkeye,” Orr said. “We are one of the leaders in the State of Iowa with apprenticeship programs in the trades, so this was a great addition. It is my understanding from the Department of Labor (DOL) that we are the first DOL approved apprenticeship flooring installer program that covers all four disciplines in one program—resilient, carpet, hardwood and ceramic.”    

The course is laid out the same as the pilot program that Georgia Northwestern Technical College hosted in 2022 with the first week spent in the classroom. 

Jen Zurn, project manager, International Certified Flooring Installers (CFI), spent the first day with the students, covering the introductory information. “The students were engaged and asking questions throughout the entire day, which was great,” she said. “It was a really great group, and I’m excited to see where they go in the industry.” 

In weeks two and three, the students covered resilient—LVP and sheet goods. Joe Cea, field installation specialist, Congoleum, and Ron Shannon, owner, Superior Floors, were the instructors. 

The students worked with broadloom carpet and carpet tile in weeks four and five. Tom Haes, a carpet installer from the Cedar Falls area, instructed the course. Haes comes from a long line of flooring installers and has over 50 years in the industry. 

Kevin Keefe, national technical sales manager, QEP/Roberts, dropped in for a couple of days to work with the students as well. 

“I started them off cutting seams and properly preparing them,” said Keefe. “We moved into making seams and doing seam repairs. Then, we started on how to properly stretch carpet. I ended with having them do a small room from start to finish, including a three-piece length seam. The students were eager to learn and picked up on things quickly. It was a pleasure being a small part of a great program.”

Haes walked the students through a special project on the last few days of his time with them. They took the leftover carpet pieces (five colors) and made a rug to take home. Each rug was constructed with a border, requiring the students to demonstrate the skills they had been shown.

“I told them that it’s kind of my test to see how you seam—be sure you seal the seams and that the seams go together good,” said Haes. “I tried not to help them too much with that so we could tell exactly how they did. They did well. I think they took some nice rugs home.” 

Hardwood spanned weeks six and seven with Bob Dellagardelle, an area flooring installer, leading. 

Steier instructed the tile portion during weeks eight and nine where the students were introduced to basic tile installation: underlayment installation, tile installation and grouting. Each student got the opportunity to install tile in their module multiple times. 

Week 10 was devoted to material review and testing. 

“This first program went really well,” said Orr. “I am thankful for Kaye and Tiffany [Mills] from FCEF and all the help they were able to give. Since we had never done any type of flooring class, we had no instructors who were able to teach this class. Yet, I was able to find talented instructors who were very knowledgeable in their craft and were willing to share their expertise with the next generation.”  

Haes expressed that he truly enjoyed his time with the students and was pleased with the hard work they put in, “I feel good about the [class] and that one of [the students] has a job already and one of them is in line for another job and that they stuck through the whole 10 weeks is just amazing. It was hot on certain days, but we got through it. They all seem very interested in having a job. That makes my time worthwhile.”

The sponsors for this course were Emser Tile, Hank’s Specialties, Congoleum, Sobaski Abby Carpet and Floor, BK Flooring, Riley's Floors, D & W Flooring and FCEF. 

According to Orr, Hawkeye plans to run the program again in early 2024.