A one of a kind program at Algonquin College in Pembroke, Ont. is looking to boost enrolment ahead of its return this fall.
The Action Sports Park Development Program will be rebooted next semester after being shut down during the pandemic.
On Friday, Colony Skate Shop and School hosted an open house for the program in the hopes of raising awareness.
"Snow terrain parks, bike parks, single track trail systems, skate parks, dirt jump parks, you name it, that's what our students come here to learn to do," said Cameron Dube, the program's coordinator.
"Historically, we've been between 15 and 20 (students per year), and we'd love to hit that target again."
Skate shop co-owner Tanner Hogan says Pembroke is unique in that it is the only community in Renfrew County with a concrete skate park. He adds that the relationship between his store and the college needs to be there for the local skateboarding community to thrive.
"Right now, we're trying to bump the numbers up and get enrolment because we were always excited to work with the college," Hogan tells CTV News.
"The amount of dedicated, educated, and available workers in this industry is probably suffering because not enough people think that this is a valid career choice."
Mathieu Faucher, 17, of Pembroke came out to Friday's open house - he regularly skates at Colony's indoor ramp. He says he's not exactly sure what he wants to do once he graduates high school.
"I really need to go to college and I want to learn about something, and learning about something that's related to all my interests that I'm having right now would be awesome," Faucher said.
Dube says that the unique program offered at Algonquin College's Pembroke campus cannot be found anywhere else in Canada at the post-secondary level.
Dube is hoping the local recruitment efforts will be enough to sustain the program in its first year back.
"Our graduates have landed jobs all over the world from building concrete skate parks in Egypt to working at all the famous resorts out west, driving groomers, terrain park groomer operators," says the program coordinator.
"As far as sustainability goes, people need to know that this is the only program available of its kind," adds Hogan.
"If it didn't exist, you wouldn't be able to get this kind of post-secondary education anywhere else."
As for Faucher, he feels lucky that the program of his dreams is available in his hometown, but his college hopes are riding on the fact that enrolment numbers prove the interest out there.
"Maintenance of skate parks and building of skate parks and helping with all that planning, that would be really cool to get a permanent job in that field."
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