The trades are an important part of the lakecity identity, and something that the Youth Discovers Trades event held at Thompson Rivers University every year seeks to emphasize.
Held on Wednesday, Feb. 19 this event gave 80 Grade 7 students from Columneetza the chance to experience five different trades including carpentry, welding, electrical, mechanical and millwright in a hands-on, controlled environment. It’s something School District 27’s coordinator of career programs Dave Corbett is visibly proud of.
Each year he said the event is put on by SD27 in partnership with the Industrial Trade Authority of B.C. and several local businesses who donate supplies and tradesmen to make the event happen. With the help of the TRU staff and students, Corbett said this is an amazing opportunity to get a feel for each trade and possible future careers in hour-long sessions.
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“I see every year these Grade 7 students just loving it. Anytime you get out and have an experience where you’re not just listening but you’re listening, doing and building it’s so rewarding to do this,” Corbett said, remarking with a smile he’s sure the students’ parents won’t hear the end of this event for some time.
Corbett said they like to give students a vision of possible futures they could pursue in the trades if they have the talent and perseverance to stick with it. He finds it quite exciting that some of the student instructors present were, five years ago, Grade 7 students who attended the same event and are now passing on that passion to the next generation.
“As a teacher, the most rewarding part is seeing kids having excitement, learning and doing. When people are active and they’re learning, that’s when problems go away, intrigue and enthusiasm goes up and the learning they take away is that much higher,” Corbett said.
While it’s a lot of work to organize for himself and the 60 or so other volunteers that make the event happen, he said it’s all worth it in the end. Corbett would like to give a big thank you to all the businesses who support the event and TRU for hosting it.
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Corbett’s assertion students love the event was confirmed by Shae Carr-Humphries who said he liked the trades even before he came to this event. Carr-Humphries’ dad is a mechanic and in his spare time Carr-Humphries said he likes to dabble with carpentry and mechanical endeavours.
“(Youth Discovers Trades) caught my interest because it has all of the carpentry stuff but then it had the others trades I haven’t done before, so I wanted to try them and it’s being going really good so far,” Carr-Humphries said.
Carpentry still remains his favourite trade, Carr-Humphries said, but he enjoyed trying his hand at the others too. He thinks this event prepares students for what they can expect if they plan to pursue a career in the trades like he himself hopes to do.
“The important thing is jobs aren’t always fun but try to have fun,” Carr-Humphries quipped with a grin.
patrick.davies@wltribune.com
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