By Adam Donnelly

Heavy Metal Rocks shows SD73 students industry options

Apr 2, 2019 | 5:14 PM

KAMLOOPS — For three days last week, 26 lucky students from secondary schools across SD73 took part in Heavy Metal Rocks. No, not the music — the machinery. Thirteen stations, all featuring one or more pieces of equipment for these students to use.

“At each station, you like, try out equipment, talk to the people, try it out,” Logan Lake Secondary Grade 11 student Madison Hippisley said. “You can ask questions, see how you get into that job. Stuff like that.”

For the young women and men who were selected to take part in the 11th annual edition of Heavy Metal Rocks, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to learn from industry professionals all about what it takes to operate some of these big rigs.

“It’s more than I thought it would be,” Aidan Hoeppner, Sahali Secondary Grade 11 Student explained. “Everybody out here wants to be out here, the [instructors] are so nice. We’re learning some cool stuff.”

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Ron Collins is the chair of the steering committee for Heavy Metal Rocks. He says one of the coolest aspects of the event is seeing the students learn from the machine operators, many of whom are retired and are volunteering their time.

“They’ve come back year after year, because they really like working with our students, giving back,” Collins said. “It’s an amazing program. We talk about education now and meeting up with our community. This is probably the biggest one for our district, in terms of partnering with industry.”

Each student made the rounds, taking part in all 13 stations and learning important skills directly related to specific jobs. But more than that, each student got to interact with professionals from a variety of industries and take away something unique from the event.

“It’s worth it; the people you meet, the things you get to do. You’ll have that for the rest of your life,” Hoeppner said.