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Career fair takes hands-on approach

Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 12, 2007

FORT FRANKLIN - Students in Deline were thrown into the real world during a hands-on career fair that took place in the community Oct. 29 to Nov. 2.

Wanting to move away from the standard booth format, Shaun Doherty, implementation director with the self-government office, developed a more practical approach. Doherty wanted to engage the students with a serious look at jobs that fulfil the needs of the community.

NNSL Photo/Graphic

Sheldon Takazo learns the ropes of being a North-Wright pilot with Dustin Carter during Deline's Youth Career Fair. The students took part in a week's worth of activities Oct. 29 to Nov. 2, in an event organized by the self-government office. - photo courtesy of Shaun Doherty

"We're getting away from the walking around and getting free stuff at booths," said Doherty. "The idea was really something they can touch and feel and would be engaging."

Instead, the 30 high school students were divided into five groups who attended workshops and presentations held at various places in the community. With persons delegated to lead the group, the students were graded for attendance and being on time.

The week started off with a presentation by Nona German, a Northern student advisor who works out of Edmonton. The students then went through a flurry of stations where they learned interview skills, resume building and searching for jobs on the Internet.

On Tuesday, representatives from the oil and gas industry came in to talk about employment opportunities in the North. But better than just hearing about the work, the students were taken out into the field to learn the hands-on approach of what those jobs are like.

Wednesday took a local focus, with renewable resources officer Ron Doctor coming in to talk about his work. The students also took a visit to the knowledge centre in town, where they learned about archiving traditional knowledge and tried out what life was like as a translator.

The focus grew a little larger on Thursday as Melinda Giles and Gerry Kisoun from Parks Canada came in to talk about efforts in protecting nearby historic sites.

A favourite among the students was a presentation by Jay Graham from the University of Northern B.C. about supports for students looking to go west for school.

The presentation hit a mark with Kelly Kenny, 16, who is now thinking of going to University. Unfortunately, after a week of opportunities, Kenny is now torn as to what she wants to study.

"I don't know any more, there's too much to choose from," she said.

After a week of hearing and trying out different jobs, the students got a first hand view with a job shadowing day on Friday. Even aspiring politicians were able to see life in the public eye when MLAs Jackson Lafferty and Norman Yakeleya came in for a presentation, and a group of students followed them into a leadership meeting.

The day was a highlight for Carla Kenny, 17, to get such an intimate first hand view.

"They were awesome. We just got to sit there in the meeting while they talked about education," she said.

Two lucky students took flight on Friday, job shadowing pilots from North-Wright Air and Great Slave Helicopters.

Doherty said the pilot was especially pleased to have the extra hands, as the students were put to work cleaning the plane off for an hour before they took off.

Overall, the weekend was a hit for students like Tamara Bayha, 16, who said she got a better look at what's out there.

"It gave us more opportunities to think about where you can go to school and jobs you can get."

Getting students motivated is a priority for the self-government office, according to Doherty. Human resource reports repeatedly emphasize how vital this generation will be to the successful implementation of self-government agreements.

The realization of self-government is growing closer, a meeting at the end of November may bring the approval of the chief negotiator for the Sahtu Dene and Metis land claims negotiation. They just need to wait for agreements for financial transfers, and Doherty says the final self-government agreement could come as soon as summer of 2009.