Logan Bushe is a 22-year-old carpenter apprentice at Beaver Excavating Company.
“I wouldn’t want to do anything else,” he says.
And even though he’s exactly where he wants to be, his path to where he is today wasn’t always clear. At just 18, Bushe was arrested. After the incident, Logan wasn’t confident he would be able to get a job. All he knew was that he was going to put all of his energy and effort into finding a new path forward.
“I wasn’t going to let it stop me from getting a job,” he said. He told himself, “I’m going to stay focused and stay with it.”
After his run-in with the law, Bushe found his way to a path that would eventually change the course of his life. His father advised him to focus on entering the workforce and earning money. After a few years, he could go back to college. His dad told him, “Don’t go into debt. You can pay for college on your own. Start working and saving while you’re young.”
Through an apprenticeship, Bushe knew he could learn vital skills as he earned a paycheck.
“Why not start that life right after school and save all my paychecks?”
Since making this decision, Bushe has worked his way from the basics, up.
“The main thing about being a carpenter is that you have some basics – you have to know how to read a tape measurer to get to the next step. I really had to learn everything from the very beginning, but it was just about staying focused with one thing at a time.”
Every step of the way, his strong work ethic has served him well as he learned on the job. But, Bushe wasn’t doing it alone. He has had the support of experienced team members. Over the years, both leaders and fellow employees have supported Bushe along the way, from after-hours lessons to on-the-job guidance.
“I have to watch someone else do it. I’ll tell them ‘I’m going to watch you for a little bit [and see] how you move, how you stand…the whole technique.’ [They] broke it down and told me everything.”
Bushe was given a chance and he proved himself.
“Now I’m waking up at 5-6 in the morning. I’m there on time,” he says. “Construction made me grow into a man. It made me man up.”
This internal shift and growing success is proven with his car upgrades.
“I used to drive a beat-up Dodge. I thought I would never get out of this. [But] I finally bought myself a Chrysler 300.”
But he’s not the only one to benefit from his income. He works for the wellbeing of his son.
“I’ve got a son to feed. I’m going to make sure he lives a better life than I did.”
When asked what he would tell young apprentices, he said, “Keep showing up. Be on time until they tell you to stop showing up. Keep moving. Keep pushing. If you are struggling, if you have a kid to feed…come try construction.”
Bushe is about to graduate from his program at Beaver. But this isn’t the end for him. It’s just the beginning of his career in construction.
