Trading places
New $7.4-million North Kamloops Secondary Trades and Technology Centre offers introduction to apprenticeship programs By Melanie Franner
With the potential of many large-scale construction projects looming on the horizon, the government and educational system of British Columbia is stepping up to the plate to ensure that there will be workers aplenty if and when they’re needed. The announcement of the new $7.4-million North Kamloops (NorKam) Secondary Trades and Technology Centre is but one example of this “Building B.C.” movement – but it is a significant one in that it will accelerate students’ transition to the workforce by exposing them to the trades before their highschool graduation. “This is a major project for our school district and for students within our region who want to explore the trades as a career,” states Sheryl Lindquist, district principal, Secondary Transitions, School District No. 73. “This initiative has been 10 years in the making.”
Broad Appeal The new centre is being made possible through funding from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training and the KamloopsThompson Board of Education. “The programs will be open to students in grades 10, 11 and 12 throughout the entire school district,” notes Lindquist, who adds that this is close to 4,000 students in total. The 19,000-square-foot, one-storey centre will be a renovation/addition proj34
Ops Talk • Fall 2014
ect to the existing NorKam Secondary School. Once completed, the newly designed centre will offer four skilled training shops with specialized equipment and two lecture areas. It will increase NorKam’s previous trades training capacity by approximately 120 students, while significantly expanding the offerings. “We’re noticing that a lot of students don’t even know what types of jobs are available in the trades,” states Lindquist. “This will be a great opportunity for them to familiarize themselves before making a serious commitment. At the same time, it will still count as credits toward attaining their high school diplomas.”
The first two samplers available in February 2015 will be construction (which will cover carpentry, plumbing, electrical and industrial instrumentation mechanical) and mechanical (which will cover heavy-duty mechanical, auto-service technician, motorcycle and small motor and welding). Other samplers to be made available at a later date include commercial driver training, engineering and mining technology. “The student reaction to date has been overwhelming,” says Lindquist. “We are over-subscribed in our first two samplers.”
Expanded Offering
New Training Facility in the Making
Although the NorKam Secondary School has been offering their students some skills training for the past few years through a partnership agreement with the Thompson Rivers University, this newly expanded centre will broaden the offering and will provide it right on-site. As such, the new centre will offer skills training programs in mining exploration, development and production; entrylevel industrial skills; construction trades training; refrigeration and air conditioning; and civil engineering technology. “Eventually, we will offer five ‘samplers’,” states Lindquist. “Each of the sampler programs will consist of a total of 480 hours and will represent 16 credits toward a student’s high school diploma.”
“We had to demolish the existing music room so we could build the addition,” states Erik Thistlethwaite, project superintendent, Delnor Construction Ltd., who adds that there was a lot of site preparation required on the project. The addition itself consists of two classrooms, an entrance lobby, new music room (to replace the one that needed to be torn down) and the four trades shops (two of which are approximately 2,400 square feet, one of which is 3,000 square feet and the other, which is 2,100 square feet). “This is our first construction project since 2001 so we’re very excited about it,” states Art McDonald, director of Facilities and Transportation, School Dis-
