When Grade 7 Light of Christ Catholic School student Tristan flipped up the protective visor on his welding helmet, his smile was as bright as the sparks he had just sent cascading around the workstation in the Portage College welding lab. Tristan was one of several students from the Lac La Biche school who were visiting the college’s Lac La Biche campus last Friday to get a taste of the Trades programming offered at Portage College.
Under the watchful eyes of Portage College and Light of Christ staff and faculty, the students spent the morning in the Welding, Carpentry and Indigenous Arts programs, learning some fundamentals of the college’s Trades and Artisan programming. The visits are not only a field trip opportunity for the students, but also a chance to get an early start on career choices.
Tristan already has a bead on his future plans.
“I’ll come to Portage when I’m older,” said the teen who is already familiar with the welding profession thanks to family connections. “I’ve done it before. I like it, and I’m pretty good at it.”
Pushing down the visor, Tristan went back to his assignment of weld testing pieces of metal. In the next work area, his Grade 7 classmate Logan was busy making calculations on steel plates that will eventually become a metal dice he plans to make into a yard game. Tristan, whose dad is a casual Welding program instructor at the college, also plans to be a future Portage student – but in the Power Engineering program.
In another part of the college campus, Light of Christ Grade 7 student Amon was busy making a wooden bench alongside his classmates and supervisors in the Portage College carpentry lab. While those students were hammering out a possible career path, another group from Light of Christ was in the college’s Fine Arts area, working with beads and other crafting materials as they learned about Indigenous history, culture and art in the region.
Similar program visits from local schools are common at Portage College campus locations across the northeastern Alberta service area, and serve as an opportunity for the students to find post-secondary choices close to home. In the case of the Trades program, the visits are also hoped to boost the future workforce of the busy industrial sector in around northeastern Alberta.rta.
“It is fantastic to see these young students on campus experiencing different educational opportunities that can help them to focus on their futures,” says Portage College Dean of Trades John Melo. “Seeing the excitement these students show while they are learning hands-on skills is inspiring as they grow into their futures.”