Students benefit from focus on trades & tech

OLIVER — The Trades and Career Education program at Okanagan Skaha School District 53 is starting to branch out, trustees were told Wednesday.

The district is promoting the field of technology as another potential career option for its students. Through an approved Shoulder Tapper grant from the provincial government, which provides students with technology and trades education opportunities, the district has been able to expose students to the field through special events, field trips and upgraded equipment.

“We received a Shoulder Tapper grant for trades awareness, and that is going really well,” said Superintendent Bev Young. “We’ve been taking groups of students, so far two secondary schools, with the other one going next week, to various places to gain awareness in the technology sector.”

This focus on technology has carried over into other aspects of the trades program as well.

The purchase of a CNC router, to be shared between the district’s three secondary schools, integrates traditional woodworking with modern, computerized equipment.

The grant has also gone towards funding computer-automated drafting and design. Technology teachers are learning how to provide programs using VEX Robots, an intuitive system that teaches students how to build and integrate robotics into problem-solving.

“Already students are making plans to learn more through the grant,” said Young. “So it’s all been very positive.”