Young welders were receiving top notch instruction at a free camp held at VIU this week, exposing them to a career they potentially wouldn't have thought about. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

career exploration

VIDEO: Free camp ongoing in Nanaimo for potential welders to discover ‘pretty awesome’ career

Aug 2, 2023 | 4:46 PM

NANAIMO — Sparks are flying this week as young prospective welders learn the trade and hopefully ignite interest in a new career.

Vancouver Island University is hosting the Canadian Welding Bureau’s Mind Over Metal camp, a welding-focused program for youth interested in exploring the trade, between Monday, July 31 and Friday, Aug. 4

Dave Travers, principal of the Career Technical Centre at VIU said around 16 students from across the central Island are taking part, free of charge, with some as young as 12 years old.

“There’s no prerequisite needed. ‘Would you be interested in trying what welding’s all about?’ Giving them top instructors from VIU and also the different companies around…it’s exposure.”

Camps like the one running this week complement VIU’s other outreach programming for its trades courses, which include visits to local elementary schools and specialized courses for different segments of the population including women and Indigenous people.

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Activities through the camp include basic safety and setup as well as welding technique.

Sario Acciavatti is going into grade 11 at Kwalicum Secondary School and took advantage of the opportunity to come ahead of attending the CTC for welding in his grade 12 year.

He said he’s keen to get more time in the shop.

“More experience, learning how to weld better, learning different types of welding…and how to setup a welder from the ground up with everything off, adjusting the gas. I know the welding part but not how to setup the gas lines, that sort of stuff.”

Acciavatti has been teaching himself some basics over the last few months.

Earlier this year, he began building a mini-bike which we designed and fabricated himself.

“I put probably two months into it in total, spent about two or three weeks designing it, finding metal that’ll work, finding a motor and all the parts I would need. Slowly bits and pieces, found all the metal I needed, cut it out, I didn’t weld anything until I had everything laid out and knew it would all work.”

In addition to skill development, many instructors at the camp are keen to plant the notion about a career in trades into the next generation.

A young welder prepares for some more practice, under watch of one of the camp’s instructors. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Kate Mason-Betts is a welder with Ironworkers and is currently deployed to LNG in Kitimat.

She said her job doing structural steel is “pretty friggin’ awesome”.

“You’re up in the buildings, sometimes you’ve got to be tied off and you’re holding on for dear life and you’re welding and tacking, putting pipe supports in. I was talking to some of the kids, hopefully I made it seem exciting because it is exciting. There’s a lot of opportunities for whoever wants to join the trades.”

Mason-Betts added despite only around five per cent of Ironworkers union members being women, trades are becoming a much better place for all people.

The camp is run under the Canadian Welding Bureau (CWB) Welding Foundation, who in partnership with Seaspan, covered the cost for participants.

Seaspan Victoria’s welding production supervisor Mackenzie Jopp said Canada is short roughly a quarter million welders and other trades people.

“The demand right now for heavy industry is off the charts, we find more and more youth just aren’t interested getting into trades…they want to go into computers, they want to become YouTubers. The demand for skilled trades is humungous right now, particularly with welding and steel fitting.”

More information on CWB, including upcoming camps, is available on their website.

Students as young as 12 are picking up valuable skills and potential career paths during a welding camp at VIU this week. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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