While some high school students opt for college or university after graduation, others are drawn to careers in the skilled trades — building, fixing, and otherwise improving things with their hands.
Many of those students were able to gain real world experience through the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), and the Simcoe County District School Board honoured these students for the first time at the OYAP Night of Celebration earlier this month.
With high school students from around the county in attendance, including many from Orillia, their hard work in a variety of skilled trades was celebrated as they turn their eye to apprenticeships and careers in a variety of skilled trades.
“They were so proud of themselves, and they should be. I mean, it’s a lot of work and they're dedicated,” said Jason Pino, the school board’s principal of student success. “We often celebrate students for their academics, for their athletics … and we just felt strongly that we should do the same for our students who are entering the skilled trades.”
The program offers Grade 11 and 12 students the chance to turn co-op work opportunities — whether in construction, automotive service, hair salons, or other fields — into youth apprenticeships with their employer, where they can collect apprenticeship hours, make money, and complete their high school requirements along the way.
Currently, 170 students across the school board are enrolled in the program, including 33 from Orillia who commonly complete apprenticeships as automotive service technicians, general machinists, and hairstylists, Pino said.
“It is a really good deal for students who are interested in the skilled trades,” Pino said. “There's so many students who would much rather be working with their hands rather than, traditionally, sitting at a desk and doing paperwork and doing those types of things, so it really meets their needs in a meaningful way.”
Beyond making money while working, students in the program are also able to get their college costs covered once they’re finished high school, Pino said, noting many alumni are fully qualified trades workers by the time they are 22- to 23-years-old.
“While they're learning and getting their apprenticeship completed, they're making money, and then they're also provided with funds to complete their college portion of the programs,” he said. “It's fairly lucrative in that students that come out with a skilled trade typically will not come out with any debt, and will typically come out with employment.”
Pino highlighted that students in the program already demonstrate good qualities, which led to their employers taking them on as youth apprentices.
“For an employer to take a young person on at that age — 16, 17, 18 — that student would have demonstrated that they're responsible, that they're reliable, because it takes a lot for a journeyperson to take someone on as an apprentice,” he said. “We thank our employers because they're very supportive in the program and it's just a great opportunity for students.”
Pino said the program has grown in popularity over the years as more and more students and families look at the skilled trades as a legitimate post-secondary opportunity and a career path to be proud of.
“For too many years, I think we really focused on, you know, the importance of going into college programs or university programs,” he said. “Some of these students, some of the work they do, it's just phenomenal: what they can build and what they can plan and how they can problem solve, so it has been growing every year.”
With the program’s continued success, and the hard work of students and their employers, it was important to celebrate the program and its students, said Pino.
“That was a really great opportunity to congratulate our students, thank their parents, their guardians, their caregivers,” he said. “It was also an opportunity to thank all of the local employers in Simcoe County, who, of course, without their support the apprenticeship could never happen.”
