Program prepares carpentry students for trade exams
Darrell Greer
Northern News Services
Rankin Inlet (Mar 12/01) - A carpentry program being taught here is helping prepare students for their apprenticeship exams.
Journeyperson carpenter Sebastien Curley is course instructor and says the program is being delivered through Nunavut Arctic College and sponsored by Kivalliq Partners in Development.
He says the program is a basic introduction to carpentry.
"We're more or less trying to teach our students the basics, focusing mostly on framing.
"We have 14 students in the program, which is actually quite a strain on my resources."
The 14-week program runs until April 27.
Course participants also receive training in basic first aid, workplace hazards and safe working habits.
Curley has worked out an agreement with the Rankin Inlet Housing Association (RIHA) to renovate a home as part of the training.
The program has also produced 14 free-standing ashtrays which will be distributed to various businesses and organizations in the community.
Curley says he prefers to take on projects which offer a lot of theory with the practical experience, which, he says, makes the house renovation ideal for the program.
"That project will keep us busy for most of the course and my students will benefit from the theory."
Students who complete the course become eligible to take trade entrance exams.
A course will be offered in May and five to seven of Curley's students could be accepted.
Curley says would-be carpenters need math and science skills and the trade entrance program prepares them in those subjects before they write the exam.
"Once you've passed the exam, you need to be sponsored by a contractor and then you start your apprenticeship training to become a journeyman carpenter.
"Hopefully, some of my students will make it that far, but, for now, we owe a big thank you to Umingmak Supply Ltd. and the RIHA for helping to get them started.
"Not only is the program benefitting the community now, it might also pay long-term benefits through a number of our current students."
