While their thoughts may still be on school, sports and games, students in one local school are participating in a program to help point the way toward a future career path.
Students in grades 5 to 8 at École McIsaac School got a glimpse of diverse career paths through a pilot program called Exploring Options.
Throughout the day Wednesday, Feb. 3, students circulated to several 40- to 80-minute sessions led by local and regional experts. Topics covered included entrepreneurship, skilled trades, geology and mining.
In one Grade 7/8 classroom, Elizabeth Andres, administrative officer at the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy, and Eckart Buhlmann, an exploration geologist and instructor at the academy, led an intense session for a rapt audience.
Twenty-five stations were set up throughout the classroom, each with a quiz question, and hands-on props, related to mining careers, geological formations, or the development of minerals. Every two minutes, students moved to a new station to tackle a new question.
Buhlmann said he was impressed by the engagement level of the students. “You just need to make it interesting, to trigger their interest in mining and geology, “
“They just need a spark,” Eckhart said.
The day was organized by career development coordinator Alex Beasse, who works with the Flin Flon School Division, Frontier School Division area 4 and Kelsey School Division. She ran a similar event in Moose Lake in late 2015.
Michelle Pruder, Northern In-School Program Officer with Skills Canada Manitoba, ran a skilled trades session with Roland Misling, dean of the Trades and Technology faculty at UCN.
Pruder and Misling’s session featured multiple stations where students sewed buttons, tried out pipe-fitting, constructed marshmallow-and-spaghetti creations, and decorated cookies.
Each station was intended to give students some introductory insight into trades-related tasks.
“Our focus is on introducing kids to the skilled trades as a viable career option,” said Pruder.
Pruder said Skills Manitoba Canada is focusing on elementary and junior high students now, as there is expected to be a shortage of skilled tradespeople in the next five years.
The aim is to provide students with positive, informative experiences with the trades, in the hopes that they will give trades-related careers a serious look when they start to make plans for the future.