Mobile skills training labs offer hands-on learning for high school students

IROQUOIS, ONT. -

A new initiative is giving students across the region a hands-on approach to learn about the trades, preparing them for possible career opportunities in industries desperate for workers.

At Seaway District High School in Iroquois, Ont., Grade 10 student Keanna Cogdale is learning how to weld, a trade she has been interested in for quite some time.

"My brother kind of got me into it because he always came home pretty happy when he was welding," Cogdale said. 

St. Lawrence College and the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) are doing this together. Mobile skills training labs are stopping by 11 secondary schools in the region, bringing the trades to the students.

"What it really boils down to is we're introducing kids to the trades," said St. Lawrence College Skills, Training and Economic Development Manager Jamie Puddicombe.

"We're teaching carpentry, electrical, welding, culinary, health and fitness in schools and in areas we aren't traditionally getting too." 

The mobile training labs at Seaway High School in Iroquois, Ont. on Friday. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

The program is part of the UCDSB Specialist High Skills Major program and the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program initiative, with the goal to offer 1,300 students in the region some hands-on experience, to see if these are industries they would want to explore.

"We want them to be filling seats in our college programs right across the province and we're happy to be the ones that are planting that seed," Puddicombe said. "Maybe, you know, developing those 'aha' moments in the odd kid that maybe has never welded before and realizes it's something they are passionate about."

Part of the welding workshop offered uses virtual reality, showing students how to mig weld.

"That teaches them what they are doing wrong," said Ashley Grant, UCDSB Student Success Learning Partner. "If the angle is wrong, the speed is too slow or too fast, it gives them a score in the end and there is quite a competition happening today actually."

"You're not wasting metals, you're not wasting rod and you're not wasting electricity and the kids are actually highly competitive at this school, there are some very good welders here," Grant smiled. 

Jamie Puddicombe of St. Lawrence College demonstrating how to cook a steak with virtual reality. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Grade 10 student Lillian O'Conner signed up for three of the workshops offered this week, scoring the highest score in the virtual welding with a 92.

"I kind of want to go into carpentry but welding is a good choice as well," she said. "I think trades are really good career choice and I've just always loved trades."

The culinary course also uses virtual reality, helping students learn how to properly cook a steak.

Grant says high school students will be needed soon in the trades, as many working in the field now will be retiring over the next five years. 

"They are aware that there's a trades deficit out there and they know that they are the workers of the future and this is something for them," Grant said. 

"I think this is a wonderful opportunity for all students," she added. "We need to do a lot more trade promotion, hands-on trades' promotion. Just talking about it doesn't cut it. The kids need to get their hands dirty and try a tool."

Students using a virtual reality mig welder to train at Seaway High School in Iroquois, Ont. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

For Keanna, practice makes perfect, as she already has an idea of what career path lies ahead.

"Trying to make it my future," she said. "I want to do pipeline welding."

The mobile training labs head east next week to St. Lawrence Secondary School in Cornwall. The program wraps up June 17.