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Top trades student celebrated
Best apprentice in housing maintenance program recognized

Shawn Giilck
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, November 13, 2014

INUVIK
A tradesman in training got some recognition for a job well done last week.

NNSL photo/graphic

Katherine Peter, left, the chief development officer of the Department of Education, Culture and Education helps Virgil Firth display his awards for highest marks in his apprenticeship program. Firth received the honours Nov. 4 at a luncheon ceremony at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Virgil Firth was honoured Nov. 5 at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex as the top student in the housing maintenance level 2 and 3 program as part of the celebrations marking Skilled Trades and Technology Week in the Northwest Territories.

"I was in school at Aurora College working toward a carpentry diploma," he said. "That was in 2011. I started the apprenticeship program in 2012. It's something I really like to do."

The award also helps mark the 50th anniversary celebrations for apprenticeship training and certification in the NWT.

The ceremony was organized by Inuvik employees of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, including Katherine Peter, the apprenticeship training officer for the Beaufort Delta.

"We are celebrating 50 years of the apprenticeship program here. That's a very good number and it's exciting. We are also celebrating the top marks awards, which is something we do every year," Peter said.

"We celebrate the students who have the highest marks in their technical training, and this year it's Virgil Firth."

There have been 2,600 apprentices who have received their certifications from 1964 to 2014, she said. There's a huge demand for apprentices all over Canada, Peter added.

Firth has been in the program for about two years and says it's been instrumental in developing his career working for the Inuvik Housing Authority.

Firth said he should be finished the program in about 10 months, and it's something he'd recommend to anyone interested in pursuing a trade.

Chris Church, Firth's supervisor, also praised the program.

"I went through it myself many years ago," Church said. "It's a good program and it's helped a lot of people and a lot of companies. It makes my job a lot easier, because I don't have to follow along behind him.

"He's doing a great job," Church added. "I don't have to worry about him. He's very dependable."

The goals of Skilled Trades and Technology Week include getting NWT youth thinking about skilled trades and technology careers as an interesting possibility for them, as well as engaging with industry to create a dialogue focused on the importance of encouraging uptake in skilled trades and technology careers to ensure that the NWT meets the job demands of employers.

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