Avon Maitland Students Introduced to More Opportunities in the Skilled Trades

by Bob Montgomery

Avon Maitland Superintendent Paul Langis told trustees at their last board meeting that the Pathways Team has been busy recently with an event focused on the promotion of trades among women and girls called the Real Deal on Skilled Trades.

Students have a number of opportunities to experience skilled trades through different initiatives both at the board level and school level, said Langis, adding, “we're really working closely with our Pathway Advisory Committee, which is a committee made up of local businesses, community partners and the school board, to help students realize the career opportunities in our region in the skilled trades for boys and girls who have an interest in learning more.”

Langis says a recent event called the Real Deal in Skilled Trades gave twenty-four grade ten girls the opportunity to hear a panel of four speakers from local businesses, two of them Avon Maitland graduates, sharing their experiences in the skilled trades and the opportunities for the students to get into the skilled trades. They've also had evening events where parents or care-givers can attend with students to look at the shops in the schools and look over different Pathway Programs. Another event that was very popular was Junk Drawer Races where students participate as a team, with the support of a teacher, and they're given a task that they have to complete and submit. Over 1300 students participated in one of the five competitions provincially, and Avon Maitland students did very well in the first round and will move on.

Langis says once a student develops an interest in a specific trade they can then look at programming that supports their interest and helps them get into a skilled trade. She adds that it can be very difficult for a student to make a decision on a future path without having some exposure to the options available to them. The Avon Maitland Board has extended some of it’s programs to the earlier grades to address that. “We have a Pathways Innovation Centre in Stratford where grade six, seven and eight students can come and participate in workshops that give them an introduction to things like electronic workshops, robotic workshops, plumbing workshops, just so they can see the hands-on aspect of the profession and also learn a little bit about it.” Langis says that might be enough to encourage them to take courses on those topics when they get to high school and that might make their decision a little easier when they get to grade eleven and twelve.

The skilled trades can be a very rewarding career financially, but even more rewarding is the opportunity to do something you enjoy doing everyday because you've had some exposure to the options that are available.