Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Going into high school can be daunting enough. A student must deal with a new school, new friends and the new responsibility to pick classes that are going have a big impact on their future.

Bradley Shaw concentrates as he uses a jigsaw during the construction workshop at Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre. The workshop was part of the Power Up! Youth Conference put on by Skills Canada on Dec. 6 and 7. - Dave Brosha photo

In an attempt to make the last point a bit easier, Skills Canada NWT organized an event last week to give kids some exposure to the different course options before they have to choose their schedules next year.

Grade 8 students from Yellowknife, Dettah, Ndilo and Behchoko participated in the Power Up! Youth Conference program last week. The program aims to expose students to the different career opportunities available to them before they go into high school. It focuses on hands-on careers such as skilled trades.

"Part of what we're trying to give kids a chance to do is to actually try some things hands-on, talk to people who are working in that job - find out a little more about it. They might decide they love it. They might decide they hate it. But, either way, it's information that helps them make a decision," said Jan Fullerton, executive director of Skills Canada NWT.

For Larry Connolly, co-ordinator at the Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre, the point of exposing students to the various trades before high school is, "to see is there an interest there, and not only is there an interest, but is there an actual talent? Because some kids do not realize what talents they have."

On Dec. 6, about 130 girls registered in 19 different workshops throughout Yellowknife and on Dec. 7, about 120 boys participated in 17 similar workshops.

"We extend the invitation to all Grade 8 students in the NWT, but we don't cover the cost of travel and accommodations, so that's why it tends to be, right now, the greater Yellowknife area," said Fullerton. "We're looking at ways to make it more accessible to people from farther away."

Each student was able to attend three different workshops. Earlier on, students had ranked the activities in order of preference, and so generally each student got to experience three of their top six choices for the day, Fullerton said.

This is the 11th year the conference has been held for girls in the NWT and the 10th year for boys.

There were some differences between the day for the girls and the day for the boys, said Fullerton. For example, the Women in Aviation activity hosted by Arctic Sunwest Charters on Dec. 6 featured a female pilot, and the program on Dec. 7 was hosted by a male pilot and dubbed Men in Aviation for the boys.

Also, the girls' program offered two workshops in hair and aesthetics and a presentation by Williams Engineering, while the boys received training in robotics and auto mechanics.

About 65 per cent of the students studying trades at the technical centre are boys, Connolly said. However, certain programs, such as hair styling - which is held across the street at St. Patrick High School - have predominantly female students.

The Power Up! Youth Conferences gives kids who wouldn't normally be exposed to the trades a chance to get their hands dirty.

"A lot of times our school system ... tends to steer people towards more academic options and it also tends to be related to your academic performance. So, if you do well in school, nobody tends to encourage you to go into trades, which is really unfair to the trades because trades do require certain core competencies," Fullerton said. "They're not that easy to get into. There's lots of people with a university degree who probably couldn't pass a trades entrance exam, quite frankly."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.