ALUMNUS FORGES INSPIRATION IN SHOP CLASS

“When I moved back to Lloydminster, there were so many kids who were interested in welding and manufacturing,” explain Bender. “With the oil industry and everything, it forced me to take an interest so I could teach the students. That’s when I started taking classes at Lakeland and started my formal welding training.”

Bender started teaching welding at Holy Rosary School in 2008, taking whatever Lakeland courses he could in the evenings and on weekends, eventually completing the welding apprenticeship program in 2019. Now a Red Seal welder, Bender continues to teach at Holy Rosary, though he’s traded the carpentry lab in for the welding shop.

“My experience at Lakeland was phenomenal,” Bender says. “The instructors are still second to none and there was endless support. I couldn’t imagine a better group of teachers to help me through my training.”

The relationship Bender built with Lakeland has continued. Each year, many of his students earn on-the-job welding apprenticeship hours while in high school through the Registered Apprenticeship Program. Others enrol in Lakeland’s pre-employment welding program.

It was his love of the class in his own high school days that inspired him to work in the trades sector after graduating.

Bender graduated from a carpentry program in Edmonton in 2000 and worked in carpentry and manufacturing. Then, while working, he completed his education degree, graduating in 2005. Bender taught carpentry in Edmonton for three years before returning home to Lloydminster. There, he became a teacher at Holy Rosary School, first in carpentry. It was the students that inspired him to take his teaching career in a different direction.

“I really need to say thanks to Lakeland for being such a great support for me as a shop teacher. My professional development opportunities can be pretty limited but any time I’ve reached out to the trades department at Lakeland, they’ve been more than supportive,” he explains. “They’ve changed my career. If I have any questions or needs or have any students looking into different programs after high school, they’re always there to help our students and help me out.”

For Bender, becoming a welding teacher forged together his love of the trades, of shop class, and of working with kids.

“It’s opened up so many different opportunities for me, in addition to carpentry,” he says. “I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”