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Assists students aged 15 to 29

Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Inuvik (May 24/02) - Some Beaufort Delta students just completed a course designed to show them a glimpse of life in the workplace.

Youth Entry Levels Skills (YELS) program assists students aged 15 to 29 years old to re-integrate them back into the school system or providing them entry-level job skills.

YELS is funded from various agencies to the Beaufort Delta Education Council, which provide supervised boarding home accommodation for out-of-town students.

Program co-ordinator, Shauna MacKay, said the program was designed for at- risk students, but there were also a number of students who were enrolled in the program as a reward.

"They were excellent students, good attenders and as a reward to encourage continued success, they were enrolled in the program," she said.

There were four different programs offered -- information technology, trades and technology, oil and gas training and a tourism and careers program, which was just completed last week.

Eleven students were enrolled in the five-week program and seven graduated.

"We feel that's a great success," she said.

The students spent two weeks in the classroom, learning how to run office equipment and other skills.

The third week was a safety training course and the last two weeks were spent in work experience.

Future in flying

Fifteen-year-old Lanita Thrasher just completed a two-week on the job training at Aklak Air.

She loved her time at Aklak and plans to make aviation her career.

"I'm going to be a pilot," Thrasher said.

"I sat up-front in the plane and it looks really cool."

As part of her duties at Aklak she's been doing office work, data entry, printing tickets and washing aircraft.

"It's been really fun," she said. "This is my last day and I wish it was longer."

The staff at Aklak bought a cake and held a farewell party for her last day on the job.

MacKay says the program will start again in the fall with the information technology and computer maintenance program, the oil and gas program in Feb. and the tourism program in May.

Students or teachers interested in learning more about the YELS program can contact the Beaufort Delta Education Council.