Sparks y at youth welding camp

Matt Preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca

Eighteen students in Fort St. John got a crash course in welding this month.

Part of the CWB Welding Foundation Mind Over Metal camp, the Bert Bowes middle school and North Peace high school students spent 30 hours in the shop learning the basics of how to use a torch, lay a bead, and make an assortment of tools.

“It’s been fun, learning a skill I can use outside of school, to get a job after I graduate or during high school,” said Dolly Standalone, a Grade 9 student at Bert Bowes.

“My brother thought it would be a good experience,” she said of signing up. “He’s a mechanic and said welding would be a good life skill to have.”

Given an introduction to arc welding and MIG welding, along with safety training, the students made everything from key chains, wiener roasting sticks, sculptures, Batman symbols, and cowbells. The five-day camp gives them some practice before being able to take elective welding and metals classes later in their schooling.

“Most of them came in with little to no experience so it is an introduction: let’s lay your first bead, we’ll show you how it works, focus on safety,” said NPSS metal shop teacher Ian Zackodnik.

Students spent up to six hours a day welding, learning about the different kinds of metals and how to use a plasma cutter and drill press. On Saturday, they invited their parents into the shop to show off their new skills and wares.

“The improvement you see over five days is immense,” Zackodnik said. “The entire time they’re welding, welding, welding.”

It’s the first time the camp, targeted at youth ages 12 to 17, returned to Fort St. John since the Covid-19 pandemic. A camp was held in Prespatou last year.

“We want to make sure that we provide lots of opportunity for students to explore careers,” said Brian Campbell, district principal of careers and international education for School District 60.

“We’re trying to do that at an earlier age. This is a great week to be able to expose kids to welding.”

MATT PREPROST PHOTOS

Above: Grade 9 Bert Bowes students Dolly Standalone and teacher Eric Palibroda during the CWB Welding Foundation Mind Over Metal camp on Saturday, Feb. 4. Below: Grade 11 North Peace Secondary student Gage Ramsay.

Issue

Voting: February 15 & 22

Pomeroy Sport Centre 9324 96 Street, Fort St. John, BC Open 8am to 8pm

General Voting: February 25 Baldonnel Elementary School

BC

Electors in Area C head to the polls in February

A by-election is being held on February 25, 2023 for Electoral Area C Director. The position fell vacant after the BC Supreme Court ruled the October 15, 2022 vote invalid due to issuance of ballots to electors outside of Electoral Area C. The petition was submitted to the Court by the PRRD following a recount.

You may be eligible to vote in the byelection as a resident elector if you reside in Electoral Area C, or as a nonresident property elector if you own property within the voting jurisdiction but do not reside within it. The candidates for the by-election, in order of nomination filling, are Brad Sperling and Suzanne Haab. For more information on voting eligibility, what to bring with you to vote and the candidates, please visit prrd.bc.ca/getoutandvote

Parcel tax roll review panel set The PRRD will hold a parcel tax roll review panel meeting at 9:30am on February 23. The panel will review any proposed changes to the parcel tax rolls for a number of sewer and water services.

The library will feature a children’s program room and reading/play area, teen reading and lounge area, adult reading and lounge area, public computer area, meeting space, makerspace and virtual reality room, multi-purpose spaces, cafe and open seating, outdoor patio, more storage and a storytelling space.

Work completed:

Permitting

•Asphalt removal, installation of water/sewer/storm sewer

• Foundation work

Blueskin (water-resistive barrier), tile and backfill

•Plumbing rough-ins, slab prep and slab poured

•Erection of glulam (engineered wood beam) structure

Start of exterior framing

Next PRRD Board eetings:

February 22, Special Budget Meeting 10:00am | Facebook Live, Dawson Creek

February 23 10:00am | Facebook Live, Dawson Creek

Work planned for next reporting period:

Continue building framing of exterior and interior walls

•Installation of structural insulated roof panels

•Insulation and air barriers

Window installation

•Exterior cladding and masonry work 2 | February 2023

Join

Peace River Regional District Official Page

Matt Preprost editor@ahnfsj.ca

If you’ve ever wondered how the first peoples of the Fort St. John area lived, a new display at the local museum gives you an idea.

The museum recently became the new home for a display about the ancient cave at Charlie Lake, now a national historic site known as Tse’K’wa.

Sculpted with wax by artist Rudiger Schmidt, it features two people as they might have been seen thousands of years ago camped out by the cave and lake, then a part of a larger, ice-dammed lake called Lake Peace.

The museum inherited the display by donation from the Heritage Discovery Centre in Grande Prairie, which closed for good last year.

Curator Heather Sjoblom says it will be the centrepiece of a newly redesigned display about Tse’K’wa at the local museum, which will be working in partnership with the Tse’K’wa Heritage Society over the next year.

“We know from the archaeological digs they’ve been doing recently that people often camped out a lot around the cave… At one point it was thought people lived out of the cave but that doesn’t seem to be the case so much based on the archaeological evidence,” said Sjoblom.

“The idea is to get better history, more indigenous stories included in it, and to be able to direct people to Tse’K’wa,” she said. “A lot of tourists won’t necessarily have heard of it or understand the archaeological significance until they come look here.”

Tse’K’wa means “rock house,” and though well-known to local residents and First Nations, the cave was only discovered by archaeologists in 1974, and then excavated in the early 1980s.

Among the artifacts found during its initial excavations were a 10,500 year-old stone bead, spear and ar- row points, harpoon heads, and bones from humans and various animals including bison and raven.

But what archaeologists didn’t find much of at the cave itself were tool flakes, something to suggest a longer-term occupation. During renewed digs that were done last year, thousands of flakes were discovered by students working at excavation sites above the cave.

The artifacts tell stories of travel patterns and ceremonial practices, and make the cave one of the most significant sites on the continent.

The site was designated a national historic site by Parks Canada in 2019.

Local First Nations, including Doig River, Prophet River, and West Moberly bought the land with the cave in 2012, which they have turned into a cultural museum that continues to be developed.

St Patrick’s Day

Dinner & Dance & Pie Auction

March 18, 2023

Senior’s Hall in Dawson Creek

Dinner: 6 pm

Dance: 8 pm

Music: 3 On The Tree

Tickets: -$30 Adult Dinner & Dance -$20 Adult Dance Only

-$15 12 & Under Come support your

Hosts of the Kiskatinaw Fall Fair! Sunset Prairie Recreation Commission

Linda: 250-843-7418

Selinar: 250-782-0457

Faye: 250-843-7567

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We’re here to help!

• PREVENTION

• EDUCATION

• SUPPORT Northern Brain Injury Association

1-866-979-HOPE (4673)

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