Just a few months ago, Nathan Pike was drifting. Now the 17-year-old will represent the NWT in a national welding competition and he knows he has a trade that will carry him well into the future.
Dave Sullivan
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (May 21/01) - Nathan Pike is one heck of a welder. Here's the thing, though: He's only been welding for a couple months.
In fact, he had never even held a welding torch before getting involved in a trade that could provide a future path as straight as the metal bead he can now put down.
When he's finished apprenticing three years from now, about when his academic-minded peers start thinking about juggling university loan payments, Pike's skills could command at least $80 an hour.
A few months ago, the Inuvik-born 17-year-old was a party hound, with no focus or inclination to do homework.
His parents were "choked" at his lack of discipline, because they knew he could do better.
"They said there was no reason for it."
Kicked out of school three or four times a year for not taking academic probation seriously, Pike eventually saw he would end up with jobs that involve asking people to super-size food orders.
"It was time to change," he said.
Despite that realization, he had no marketable skills and didn't know where to turn.
Pike is one of those teens who just doesn't do well in a classroom. He's one of the youths who can fall through the cracks. Luckily, school social worker Krista Rivet was there with a safety net.
In Pike's case, she snared him just in time to unveil a suddenly-promising future.
It was a combination of luck and wise decision-making on Pike's part, but he said nothing would have happened without Rivet's nudging.
When Pike decided to drop out of school she urged him to check out a portable welding unit that was touring through Yellowknife to promote apprenticeships. At first he turned his nose up at the chance.
On the last day for deciding "I changed my mind."
It was a life-changing decision.
His chosen trade
While Pike's small welded steel box has neatly-forged seams but no practical purpose, it's a symbol that he holds his future in his hands.
It was made in a regional welding competition that put him ahead of four other students who worked alongside him for a week of instruction at the mobile-welding unit.
When the unit rolled into town "I was all crooked. The guy had to hold my hands," Pike recalled.
"The first couple days weren't easy. I got better I guess. I got used to it. I kept wanting to get better."
That was in March.
The skills he learned over the next two months stood him well during the Skills Canada competition in late April.
Now he's looking forward to attending the competition's national level finals May 31st in Edmonton.
"I want to get my name out there."
He knows corporate hiring-types will be there watching.
Like any 17-year-old, Pike dreams of owning a nice car and toys like snowmobiles and quads.
"And my own place if I have enough," he said.
After finishing the apprenticeship he hopes to probably start working for an uncle who owns a small Yellowknife welding shop.
He's already good at his chosen craft, and likes it.
"I knew I'd have a lot of support from my family if I went into welding."
