Catholic centre to launch careers
An innovative technology centre where teens learn manufacturing, construction and automotive skills in preparation for careers in the skilled trades is simulating real-life experiences for Niagara Catholic students.
“We try and give them as much exposure to as many different areas of the individual sectors we teach at the Launch Centre,” said transportation technology teacher Aaron Vasas.
The Launch Centre is run by Niagara Catholic District School Board, which Thursday held an open house at the facility that now occupies a portion of the old Target store at Seaway Mall in Welland.
The event kicked off International Manufacturing Week being observed at the nearby school board office on Rice Road.
Vasas, a mechanic since 1994, said the centre aligns post-secondary education, as well as postsecondary industry trades, with careers students may choose to enter.
“It gives them as much exposure as it can so they can make better choices for anything they do post-secondary,” he said of the importance of the teaching environment.
Under the specialist high skills major program, students at the Launch Centre might receive certificates in vehicle lifts, WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System), first-aid and customer service training, which gives them a leg up when they get into the workforce.
“They come in with experience,” Vasas said.
Notre Dame student Thomas Citrigno said more students should look at the Launch Centre and what it has to offer them.
Citrigno is in the transportation technology program and was working on Corvette LS2 V8 motors during the open house.
“What we’ve been doing is taking two apart and were taking the best parts from each one and trying to make one good LS motor,” said Citrigno, who has been interested in cars and trains since he was a young boy.
“I think I excel the most in cars.”
He likes the open diversity of the Launch Centre and everything that it has to offer.
“It’s not just one job all the time, you can move around and do other jobs,” Citrigno said, adding one day he may go into mechanical engineering and design engines.
Mathew Beni, another Notre Dame student, said word of mouth through friends is what brought him to the Launch Centre and the transportation technology program. Both his father and grandfather worked on cars.
“That brought me to where I am now,” he said, adding he may go into the automotive field in the future.
Joe Sciarra, who teaches construction technology, said the Launch Centre is a pathway between secondary and post-secondary education and apprenticeships. Industry partners have made the facility possible.
“They come in here because they have a vested interest, they need the next workforce. They help us train what they need out there and we do it in here,” said Sciarra, who was in the IT robotics and construction industries before starting teaching seven years ago.
He’ll soon be teaching robotics and advanced manufacturing in the centre, inside the back half of the former department store.
The centre will see the arrival of the latest robotics and CNC (computer numerical controlled) lathe and mini hot mill.
“It will be brand new and industry-standard equipment.”
Sciarra said once robotics gear comes in, students will learn basic electricity and how to program, set up and code robots. They ’ll also build a robot for competitions.
John Crocco, Niagara Catholic’s director of education, said the open house was a way for people to see all of the “exciting experiential
learning and innovate activities being provided for our students by our staff.”
Crocco, who kicked off International Manufacturing Week with a flag-raising at the board’s headquarters, said it is industry partners who have helped make the Launch Centre possible.
“We have staff who are industry-certified, who are providing opportunities for students to earn credits. Then they (the students) will proceed to any one of the pathways — the workplace, apprenticeships, college or university,” he said.
Bruno Iafrate, treasurer of the Niagara Industrial Association, said skilled trades are important.
“Everything we touch, every day has some relationship to skilled tradesmen. The Launch Centre gives the opportunity to see the creativity that can happen, the opportunities that are available … and what the opportunities are for them,” Iafrate said.
Mario DiDivitiis, director of the Niagara Workforce Planning Board, said skilled trades is the fastest growing sector in Niagara.
“Niagara Catholic is leading the way … giving students an opportunity.”
The Launch Centre, he said, gives students a different way to learn that will give them skills that not only manufacturing businesses are requesting, but also a lot of other industries across Niagara and Ontario.