Nailed it: Fredericton high school encouraging students to train in trades
Some students at Leo Hayes High School in Fredericton are working on building their futures in the trades.
A lot of industries are desperate for workers and skilled trades are in high demand.
"I'm more of a hands-on kind of guy,” said Grade 11 student Tyson Foster. “I don't really like sitting in the classroom and it gives me free range of what I'd like to do with my future.”
The students say they learn more than just the labour skills.
“I think communication is really the biggest one” Nate St-Pierre said. “Instead of just working on homework or working on sheets, you're putting the teamwork together.”
Leading up to the holidays, they've been putting those skills to use building decorative Christmas trees.
Instructors say the skills they're learning here held build the foundation for many fields.
"Supplying people that can actually think and develop skills that can actually lead to a really fruitful career in skilled trades or some adjacent field,” said Joell Gallant, a skill trades instructor at Leo Hayes. “Or we end up equipping them with some good home maintenance skills.”
Three classes of 20 students are learning a wide range of skills. But the instructors are hoping to see a wider range of people in class.
"If you can't see it then you can't be it,” Gallant said. “So when more Grade 9 and 10 students see Grade 11 and 12 students that look just like them taking this course, then they think that's something I can do, too.”
Gallant hopes to see more diversification in tradespeople.
"One of my professional goals for the last year-and-a-half has been to increase the amount of people who identify other than male taking our courses,” Gallant said. “So we were at zero out of 20 and now we're at two out of 20, which is not a lot but it's trending in the right direction.”
With industry in need of workers, they’re hoping trades become their students’ first choice of career.
"We also really try to wipe out the stereotype that if you can't do anything else, you go into the trades,” said Shane Hoyt the skilled trades department head at Leo Hayes. “We work very hard in that the trades are a great career they're challenging and once you get involved you see all the opportunities.”
Some students are already planning their futures.
"I want to go in the trades, I think the power line trades,” St-Pierre said.
"I'm not one of those people who want to sit in an office and type on a keyboard,” Foster said.
Items made and sold by the students put cash right back in the program's fund for supplies.
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
DEVELOPING Live updates as Stormy Daniels testifies at Trump hush money trial
Adult film star Stormy Daniels is on the stand a second time Thursday as former U.S. president Donald Trump’s hush money case continues in Manhattan. Follow live updates here.
BREAKING Sheldon Keefe out as head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Sheldon Keefe. The team made the announcement Thursday after the Original Six franchise lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Bank of Canada says financial system is stable, but risks remain
The Bank of Canada says the Canadian financial system is stable, but risks remain due to debt servicing costs among households and businesses and stretched valuations of financial assets.
Here are the ultraprocessed foods you most need to avoid, according to a 30-year study
Studies have shown that ultraprocessed foods can have a detrimental impact on health. But 30 years of research show they don’t all have the same impact.
Ontario man frustrated after $3,500 paving job leaves driveway in shambles
An Ontario man considering having his driveway paved received a quote from a company for $7,000, but then, another paver in the neighbourhood knocked on his door and offered half that rate.
Why these immigrants to Canada say they're thinking about leaving, or have already moved on
For some immigrants, their dreams of permanently settling in Canada have taken an unexpected twist.
RateMDs violates privacy of health professionals, class-action lawsuit claims
A lawsuit against RateMDs has been given the go-ahead by a B.C. Supreme Court judge who found the claim that the website violates the privacy rights of medical professionals is not 'bound to fail.'
Boeing 737 catches fire and skids off the runway at a Senegal airport, injuring 10 people
A Boeing 737-300 plane carrying 85 people skidded off a runway at the airport in Dakar, Senegal's capital, injuring 10 people, according to the transport minister, an airline safety group and footage from a passenger that showed the aircraft on fire.
Capital gains tax change 'shortsighted' and 'sows division' business groups tell Freeland
Forging ahead with increasing Canada's capital gains inclusion rate 'sows division,' and is a 'shortsighted' way to improve the deficit, business groups are warning Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.