Mia Peters, left, a junior pipefitter with the Legacy Regional EMS, helps Grade 9 Loon Lake student Autumn Harrison use a skill development tool during Try A Trade at the Lloyd Ex on April 26. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
The first bi-provincial Try A Trade since 2019 fulfilled its mission to promote the trades as a career option to high school students.
This year’s event, held at Lloyd Ex, introduced students to 51 designated trades in seven industries with lots of trades demonstrations from exhibitors on April 26.
“We’ve had full support from all our schools once again,” said Dorothy Carson, executive director of the Lloydminster Construction Association that organizes the event.
“We’re expecting just over 1,600 high school students from the region to come through.”
The annual drill for students is to see and try some trades in action, chat with tradespeople to learn how they started their careers and meet with prospective employers.
Blaine Stephan, co-owner of Guardian Plumbing and Heating with his brother Joey, set up a soldering and drainage pipe demo with plenty of students taking turns.
“We love being able to show kids what plumbing and heating is all about,” said Stephan.
“There’s a lot of misconceptions. They think all they’re going to do is play around with toilets.”
Guardian set up a sewer camera for students to inspect the actual lines underneath the Lloyd Ex floor.
Stephan says they’ve seen kids who never thought of this as a career, all of a sudden thinking maybe they should get into one of the highest-paid trades with no student loans.
“We are able to dispel some myths. We love it,” he said.
“I am glad to hear a lot of teachers are starting to redirect some of their students to look at the trades as a really good option for them because we need more people in the trades.”
Kiana Weber, who attends H. Hardcastle School in Edam says she might take up welding and follow in the footsteps of her uncle after trying some soldering at the Guardian booth.
“It’s good. It’s harder than it looks,” she said.
Students could also explore a career as an HVAC technician using the power of virtual reality (VR) to complete tasks at the Regina Work Preparation Centre Inc. booth.
The demo run by Dan Cronan, a virtual reality marketer for the centre, involved students using an Oculus system in a CareerLabsVR experience.
“Currently, we are running with an HVAC technician, so working on heating and air conditioning units,” explained Cronan.
Students used VR to learn how to fill up the refrigerant on an air continuing unit.
“Technology is helping out significantly,” said Cronan.
He also believes VR and Try A Trade gives students the ability to try out different careers to find out what they are interested in and actually see it firsthand and how it works.
Another Try A Trade keener is steamfitter Graham Hammel who helps to man an electrical soldering demo every year for Lakeland College in Vermilion.
“I really enjoy it. I’ve been doing it for the last eight years,” said Hammel.
He will be in Edmonton this week assisting students at the Provincial Skills Competition.
“They are our future, so I help them out,” he said.
Frank Tremmel, president of Precision Contractors can relate well to Try A Trade youth since he started out at Precision when he was in high school.
“I worked my way up. I got my ticket (journeyman mechanic) through Precision. I don’t pull wrenches anymore, but I’ve got a vested interest. I’m a firm believer in apprenticeship and the trades,” he said.
Tremmel brought a new excavator to the event for kids to sit in and see what it’s all about.
He says Try A Trade brings in kids who never get exposed to any of this stuff, the trades, welding, mechanics, or plumbing.
“There’s everything here for them to come a take a look at and give it a try and see if it’s something they might want to try later on and plant that seed,” said Tremmel.
This year’s Try A Trade also attracted some first-time exhibitors including First Truck, Brandt Truck and Trailer and Bandit Energy Services.
SaskJobs also set up a booth to talk with students and employers about jobs.
“We encourage all the trades in all seven industries to join us and promote their trade to our youth and the general public,” said Carson.
