A group of high school students are honing their skills in trades with the help of a local home builder.
The Wellington Catholic District School Board has enjoyed a 10-year arrangement with Reid’s Heritage Homes and as part of the agreement students in the building trades have been able to work on-site building a home each year, from the foundation up.
About 15 students annually work on a home, with the most recent project located in the Westminster Highlands subdivision in Fergus.
Catholic board director and CEO Don Drone said the 10-year plan has seen students in a hands-on environment learning carpentry and other skills.
“A good 70 per cent of these students go into the trades,” Drone said. “The other 30% go to other things.”
Building trades have seen a shortfall in students and apprentices wanting to get into the sector, Drone said.
He blames that, in part, on a culture that tends to sway students toward a university education rather than to the trades.
The course provided by the Catholic board is meant to open up the trades field to young people. It helps convey to students “that this is meaningful work,” Drone said. “It’s a very worthwhile career.”
Drone contends attitudes are changing.
“We’re slowly moving towards a European market where apprenticeships are highly valued,” he said.
It’s a philosophy shared by Bishop MacDonell shop teacher Brian Andres, who works with the students at the site.
Andres agrees students should have the option to explore the trades, including carpentry, electrical and plumbing.
“If you’re eager to work you can make a really good living,” Andres said of jobs in the trades which can earn upward of $80,000 annually and offer trade graduates an opportunity to branch out into their own businesses.
The teacher said the arrangement with Reid’s has been beneficial for his students.
“They have been our partner from the start,” he said. “They (students) really get to see how it all works.”
For Grade 12 student Evan Calligari, the program will be a stepping stone to a career as a plumber at Star Mechanical, a family-run business owned by his uncle and grandfather.
“They own a business so I want to get into that,” he said.
Student Trace Boyle is taking what he learns into the architectural field, which he will be studying at Fanshawe College this fall.
“I like structure and how things are designed,” he said of what he has learned.
Andres said he is expecting 17 students will be enrolled in the high school home building program in the fall.
