Pinkard Construction’s Arturo Rivera was honored as the 2025 Carpentry Apprentice of the Year during the Construction Industry Training Council of Colorado, Inc.’s (CITC) graduation ceremony on Saturday, May 3.
Arturo Rivera’s selection as Apprentice of the Year was the result of an intensive evaluation process that included ratings for leadership, attitude, attendance, participation, and commitment, as well as overall performance of the technical requirements of carpentry. He received a perfect score in the grading portion and took first place in the final carpentry competition at semester’s end.
The final phase of selection included a 12-person committee evaluation from CITC’s Carpentry Trade Council members and two general contractor representatives.
Pinkard hired Rivera as a carpenter’s apprentice in July 2021 and sponsored his on-the-job carpenter’s apprentice training and CITC instruction. His OJT was conducted on four major Denver-metro multi-family projects including, senior living and luxury market-rate housing. Rivera is currently a part of Pinkard Frameworks — Pinkard's in-house framing division — performing wood framing and window and siding installations at the contractor's Jacoby Meadows affordable housing project in Windsor. In addition to Rivera, fellow Pinkard carpenter Francisco Valadez Jr. was also in this year's CITC graduating class.
CITC’s annual Apprentice of the Year award honors CITC’s outstanding apprentice performers from their State Apprenticeship Agency-certified four-year program, which covers carpentry, sheet metal, plumbing, electrical, pipe fitting, and masonry. As a part of his journeyman carpenter apprentice training, Rivera underwent 8,000 hours of on-the-job training with Pinkard, plus eight semesters (576 hours) of classroom-related instruction at CITC. Pinkard paid the full cost of training.
ABOUT CITC
Construction Industry Training Council of Colorado is the premier trade school for the commercial construction industry in Colorado. Apprenticeships are available for those interested in carpentry, electrical, masonry, pipefitting, plumbing, and sheet metal. Apprenticeship is a proven method to effectively train craft and journey workers. CITC’s students become highly skilled through classes and labs. CITC partners with Emily Griffith Technical College so students can receive college credit for their apprenticeship.
