IKAAHUK/SACHS HARBOUR - When John Lucas sees the new 10-by-12-foot storage shed in front of Inualthuyak School, finished but for a few pieces of aluminum siding, he thinks the final product he and his classmates spent two weeks building "made it feel easy."

Students at Sachs Harbour's Inualthuyak School recently built a storage shed for their school as part of a trades skills program that also earned them career studies credits. - photo courtesy of Austin Abbott

Lucas, a Grade 7 student, said he had never previously thought about building anything. Now, not only has he perfected his hammering technique – his favourite part of construction – he also understands the challenges involved with putting up roof trusses, especially in cold weather. He supposes he'd make a pretty good carpenter someday.

Grade 7 student Andy Carpenter said his favourite part of the construction project was hammering and drilling.

"It was lots of fun," he said, adding that seeing the shed finished "felt good."

For Mariah Lucas, a Grade 9 student, the opportunity to get out of the classroom and get her hands on some power tools was "exciting."

"I learned how to hammer, measure and drill," she said. "I think it was cool."

Now that Mariah's learned some carpentry skills, she's got her mind set on a bigger project: "a cabin for my mom and dad."

Nine students from Grade 7, 8 and 9 began constructing the shed from the ground up in mid-September as part of the Beaufort Delta Education Council's Youth Entry Level Skills program, which sends instructors to all of the community schools in the region to teach hands-on trades classes such as building construction, electrical systems and plumbing.

Austin Abbott, the regional education council's skills program co-ordinator, has been travelling to the communities and teaching kids trades skills for eight years. He's helped students build similar construction projects in Tsiigehtchic, Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Inuvik, Paulatuk and Ulukhaktok, but this is the first time the Sachs Harbour school has had a shed for its own use.

"They needed the space so it kind of worked great," Abbott said. "They needed a building and it was a great opportunity for us to go in and teach kids how to construct a building."

Students earn career and technology studies course credits through the program while learning skills that will help them later in life, Abbott said. He added that the program is expanding to include cosmetology courses in Fort McPherson and possibly Paulatuk, depending on the availability of instructors.

"The interest (in the trades skills program) is extremely high and the kids have a really high success rate because they love working with their hands," Abbott said.

Jean-Pierre Langlois, itinerant skills instructor for the education council, travelled with Abbott to supervise the building project. He's heading to Ulukhaktok this week to get students started building traditional sleds.