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BEAUFORT DELTA
Austin Abbott may not have a classroom to call his own, but he is definitely a teacher at heart.

A petrographic microscope is one of the many tools Austin Abbott uses to teach students about the oil and gas industry in the NWT. As the co-ordinator of the Youth Entry Level Skills Program, he travels the Beaufort Delta to teach hands-on skills to students. - Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison/NNSL photo

The 59-year-old is the co-ordinator of the Beaufort Delta Education Council's Youth Entry Level Skills Program, which teaches students across the region hands-on skills and trades.

"It's a ball," he said. "It's a pleasure to pass along knowledge, you know? I build buildings, I teach them how to do welding, plumbing and all kinds of stuff. I've gotta tell ya, it's nice to know that one day, when I leave here, that there will be students going on doing things that I taught 'em how to do."

Since January, Abbott's work has taken him to Ulukhaktok, where he helped students build a two-storey storage facility, Fort McPherson, where he ran a week-long welding course, Paulatuk, where he ran a residential wiring course, and Tuktoyaktuk, where he ran a wiring course and helped the new shop teacher set up equipment. He also ran a three-week course in Inuvik for Beaufort Delta students on the oil and gas industry, which wrapped up earlier this month.

The focus of his work – giving students opportunities to learn career-oriented skills – is an undeniable passion for him.

"The kids up here, they're very, very hands-on, very concrete learners. They learn so quickly by observing, and it has to be something that they can get their hands on, things that they can actually manipulate and work with," he said. "I guess it's part of the culture that's been passed on from generation to generation to generation, and because of that they really enjoy it, and they're good at it."

I'll tell you, they pick it up so fast, and personally I think there should be a lot more of it."

Abbott comes from a family of teachers, but before he completed his bachelor of education at Memorial University in Newfoundland he earned his bachelor of science in geology. That led to a long career in the oil and gas industry and as a certified industrial mechanic, with work placements as far away as the Norwegian Sea.

Abbott said he would love to see the Youth Entry Level Skills Program grow, so that he could offer more training and so that more shop teachers could be hired for the region's schools.

"The demand for trades is unbelievable. A very, very small percentage of people in the North are actually going to university and what I think about is the rest of those students that are not going to university," he said. "We're not meeting the demands of what's needed."

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