By Ian Holmes

VIDEO: High school students keen on trades operate heavy machinery near Nanaimo

Oct 19, 2017 | 6:16 PM

NANAIMO — It’s an extended field trip of sorts for senior high school students who traded their pencils for work boots at an industrial site to get a feel for heavy construction equipment.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools trades coordinator Rob Gowan-Smith told NanaimoNewsNOW 31 senior secondary students from the two mid-island districts and Powell River are using construction and forestry equipment at Vancouver Island University’s rock pit in Cassidy.

He said the students, working in pairs, will experience operating equipment at all 16 work stations, including driving excavators, bulldozers and graders alongside trained professionals to ensure everything runs safely.

“They (students) have a task involved and they’re involved, there’s nobody standing around with their hands in their pocket wondering what to do,” Gowan-Smith said Thursday, the opening day of the tutorial which wraps up Saturday.

The hands-on initiative dubbed “Heavy Metal Rocks” involves several partners, including VIU, WorkSafeBC and the private sector.

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Gowan-Smith said providing an engaging training opportunity like this is “a nice stepping stone into the real world.” He said some of the aspiring trades workers have their sights on VIU’s trades programs.

“A lot of kids start to turn off as they go through that transition from elementary to high school, maybe it hasn’t gone the way they’d like to see their life going. It gives them a chance to do some hands-on stuff and see the value in it.”

“Heavy Metal Rocks” also includes a scaffolding station and VIU’s mobile trades simulator trailer.

Gowan-Smith said there are opportunities for seniors in Nanaimo-Ladysmith Public Schools to gain tangible experience toward rewarding trades careers. He said a partnership with VIU allows SD68 students to take advantage of a sampler program where they are introduced to six different trades over a three month period.

VIDEO: A student operating an excavator at VIU’s industrial site near Nanaimo Airport Thursday (Oct. 19)

Robert MacDougal, an 18-year-old high school graduate from Powell River, is zeroed in on a career as a heavy duty mechanic. He told NanaimoNewsNOW he always envisioned pursuing the trades since he was a young boy watching his grandfather operate a highway grader.

“When you actually get the chance to hop in one and take it out it’s an insane experience, it’s amazing,” MacDougal remarked near the end of his first day at the site near the Nanaimo Airport.

MacDougal said he appreciates the opportunity to learn by doing, as opposed to a classroom lecture.

“The hands-on I’d say is way better because most people like me wouldn’t want to just sit down and read about them, you’d actually want to go out get on a machine and run them.”

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com