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A Future for Every Student
Ridge Meadows, BC and Local 2 British Columbia
Issue 5 - 2006
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article from the Spring 2006 issue of ITA Youth Programs Newsletter, published by the Industry Training Authority, is reprinted below with their permission.
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| By partnering with the Industrial Training Authority’s ACE IT program, Local 2 BC helps familiarize students with the trowel trades and BAC. Student Todd Johnson has his hands full as he heads for a bricklaying class. |
A successful tradesperson is often referred to as someone with “good hands.” But when Westview Secondary teacher Steve Wiebe talks about the ACE IT trades training program, the symbol of success is in the eyes of his students. “That glazed look of a bored and disconnected student is now replaced with clarity and brightness, and enthusiastic sense of purpose,” he explains.
Westview Secondary School and SD #42 is in its first year of providing two ACE IT trades training programs: Masonry, and Wall and Ceiling Installation and Finishing. Set in an abandoned maintenance building upgraded for this purpose, the program has attracted 30 students who are unabashed in their appreciation for the chance to excel in high school.
“There are two kinds of smart,” explains grade 12 student Todd Johnson. “Book smart and hands smart. I was just wasting time with barely passing grades. With ACE IT, I have been able to learn many skills-several that overlap and I have a clear purpose.”
Instruction for the Masonry program is provided by the Trowel Trades Association in Surrey [British Columbia]. Three instructors teach the students cement, brick and tile masonry skills, along with essential work-site skills such as safety. “The connection to industry is the defining element to this program,” says Steve. “They provide not only highly qualified, red seal instructors but also connections to good quality contractors who will carry on the apprentice work with the students.”
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| Masonry student Todd Johnson with [Local 2 BC] instructor Geoff Higginson. |
Rob Tuzzi, president of the Trowel Trades Association and BAC Local 2 BC, sees the program as a “fabulous opportunity to get young people interested in masonry trades.” The students receive exposure to all three crafts: cement, tile and brick. “By not pigeonholing young people early, they have the chance to discover which craft holds the most appeal to them,” explains Rob, “and this creates a strong commitment to the trade of their choice”…
…In Steve Wiebe’s career, he hears from parents all the time. But now the calls are different. “I get parents telling me that their kids come home and talk about everything in their day, something they have never done before,” says Steve. “I’ve never felt better about my job,” he shares. “Now there is something in this district for all students, preparing them for a future that they didn’t see before.”
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