Program gives high school students training in trades

Oily metal shavings drop from a spinning pipe as pipe-threading machine's teeth dig threads into the steel.

When he was satisfied, Josh Manuel cut off a section of the pipe and dropped it into a bucket to rest with his earlier work at the union hall of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters, Local 799 on Henry Street in Newcastle.

Manuel is one of 12 high school students involved in the Career Exploration and Apprenticeable Trades program through funding from the Department of Education's Innovative Learning Fund.

The program helps students develop skills in several trades, including carpentry and welding.

Manuel said he liked the program because he was not a strong student.

"I'm more a hands-on kind of person."

The program teaches students a lot of different things and is a good opportunity for them to get into the trades, he said.

"It's an amazing program."

Helena Waye, the former principal at the District 16 Learning Centre, applied for the program's funding from the province because she wanted students to be able to get hands-on training in the trades.

"We felt that there was something missing from our high schools."

The students who were approached for the program were extremely interested, she said.

"They saw it as an opportunity."

Waye said the training will help the students find jobs when they are done and give them credit toward post-secondary education.

"They'll get credit for work already done."

One important part of the program is a requirement that students be drug-free, she said and added it is the way things are in the workplace.

"You have to be drug-free to work for those companies."

Waye said the students' and parents had to agree to allow testing before they entered the program.

"They're all drug-free through the process."

Kaitlin Matchett, a Grade 11 student, said it was a great idea because people don't need drugs in their life and it makes the workplace safer.

"If you are attached to it, it's a good way to get away from it."

Matchett was one of two girls in the program, both of whom received their Class B F-3 welding tickets.

That class of ticket means Matchett can weld flat, horizontal, vertical and overhead seams.

Matchett said they are the first girls to get welding tickets through the program.

"I was like, wow, I actually did it."

Guys look at women and think they can't do that type of work, she said.

"I think there should be a lot more women in the industry."

Samantha Hobson, the other girl in the program, shared Matchett's opinion of women in the industry.

"More girls need to get into it, so I might as well set an example for everyone else."

Hobson said she will take part in the program next year if she can.

"I don't know if they're letting people back or not."

Waye said the program will need about $100,000 in funding to run again next year, but they can't apply for the same funding again, she said.

"That was a one-shot deal."

To get this year's funding, Waye said, they had to get $24,000 on their own before the government would give them the $100,000 grant the program received.

"It really is a very small investment for a program of this magnitude."

Waye said the impact will not just be in the lives of the students, because there will be 12 more people ready for the workforce.

"If just one student didn't finish high school without this program, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run."