All-In on Construction

High school construction programs are a hands-on affair, and the best ones connect students with opportunities to apply classroom lessons to real-world work. At Albany’s Commodore Conyers College and Career Academy, known more commonly as 4C Academy, Construction Technology Instructor Randin Burley (pictured here in his classroom) immerses his students in such opportunities. From children’s playhouses to projects at community parks and recreation facilities to home repairs for local residents in need, Burley has a wide network of contacts his program serves.

It’s a win-win situation for all involved: The recipients benefit from the work, of course, and the students accumulate valuable experience.

One student who has made the most of his four years in the 4C Construction program is 2025 graduate Collin Orme. Collin completed the basic curriculum in his freshman and sophomore years, freeing him to work on special projects his last two years. He also spent his senior year working for a local contractor, Newell Construction, building yet more experience while earning a nice paycheck in the process.

“Collin came to me as a ninth-grader, very enthusiastic, very curious,” Burley recalls. “He was kind of calm and quiet his first year and second year, but man, his junior year, it was like he had a whole new perspective. He’s always been one to try to figure stuff out, but he just went all the way in on construction. Since then, he’s been on an unstoppable pace.

“He got in our Work Based Learning [WBL] program, and during his senior year he worked for a contractor full-time and did really well – well enough to buy a brand new car.”

Collin is grateful to 4C Academy and Burley for their influence on him.

“When I got to 4C in ninth grade, I saw construction and I thought, ‘That looks pretty cool,’ so I chose to do that as my pathway,” Collin says. “Then when I started doing the work, I realized I really enjoyed it.”

Burley, he adds “had a very big impact on me. I’ve learned so much from him. He was a big role model.”

As a junior and senior, Collin worked extensively on playhouses for local children, including the initial designs, sourcing of materials, and the actual construction.

“I thought that was really cool,” Collin says. “It was my first experience doing what I guess you could call project management. I mean, it was at a really light level, but I enjoyed it.”

Collin completed another memorable job as part of his Eagle Project as a Boy Scout.

“I decided to build a roof structure over the dugouts at the YMCA sports field,” he explains. “I had to plan everything from start to finish – everything about the project was my responsibility to plan and execute. I estimated all the roof panels, the windows, everything like that, and that was another enjoyable experience for me.”

Collin has been one of Burley’s go-to sources for various jobs that come up. “He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t mind sweating,” says Burley, who worked as a commercial construction contractor prior to joining the 4C faculty in 2017. “He does a lot of projects that I send to him. I’ll say, ‘Hey, Miss so-and-so needs to put some appliances in her kitchen. You want to go do it? And he’ll go do it. Or somebody needs new locks, he goes and does it.”

Collin’s WBL job with Newell Construction has enabled him to see the variety of work that goes into general contracting. He started with the company in summer of 2024, continued throughout his senior year, and will remain on the job until he leaves for college in August 2025.

“They contract most of the work, like the electrical and the plumbing work, things like that,” Collin explains. “But on smaller jobs, we’ll do the framing, we’ll do the drywall, we’ll do the painting, we’ll do the demolition. I’ve really done all kinds of stuff while I’ve been working there – a little bit of experience in basically everything.”

Seeing jobs at ground level will surely help Collin advance toward his ultimate goal of working in project management. To that end, he’ll major in Construction Management at the University of Florida.

“As I started to think maybe project management is the way I wanted to go, I did some research into different careers – all the different types of construction – and that really appealed to me,” he says. “I know that within a few years after getting out of college, I want to start my own business. But right out of college, my goal is just to get the best job I can, like assistant project manager or superintendent, whatever it is, and kind of climb the ladder until I can become a project manager.”