Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

SD73 sees spike in Trades and Transitions enrollment

Oct 7, 2020 | 3:46 PM

KAMLOOPS — The Kamloops-Thompson school district is celebrating record enrolment in many of the experiential learning programs. From traditional trades, like carpentry and electrical, to a hairstyling program that operates La Bella Saints, a fully accredited salon, there’s a skill for everyone.

Kara Floyd is concentrating hard on getting the perm on her mannequin just right. It’s not her favourite skill – but it’s an important one that’s part of the Hairstyling program at NorKam Secondary.

“It’s not all as easy as everybody thinks,” Floyd explains to CFJC Today. “Rolling perms and stuff. They’re not as simple as they look. Colouring hair, there are factors that people don’t think about when they’re doing it.”

Floyd is just one School District 73 student who is enrolled in an experiential learning program. This year, SD73 says there are record numbers of students choosing the Trades and Transition programs across the district.

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“Dual credit enrolment has actually exceeded previous years,” District Vice-Principal Robert Wielgoz describes. “We have all these dual credit programs like hairstyling that let students get ahead in their careers in their Grade 11 and 12 years.”

The NorKam Trades and Technology building is where students from schools across the district come to learn from accredited instructors in a variety of fields. Esteban Tissone is Westside Secondary student taking part in the Construction Trades Sampler.

“It was something I was comfortable doing,” Tissone says. “School was just – like, it felt like it was the right step. More experience for the future.”

There are three different sampler programs where students learn a variety of different skills – Construction, Mechanical, and Industrial Trades. Students throughout the Trades and Transitions programs earn credits towards a professional designation or post-secondary education at Thompson Rivers University.

“We have a redesigned curriculum with a strong career education component,” Weilgoz explains, “[There’s] this idea of using school as a chance to connect and develop the skills to whatever is next after their school experience. Dual credit provides an opportunity for some students to connect them with a very specific opportunity that dovetails with what they want to do in their life.”

For Kara Floyd, that’s exactly the case.

“This is Level 1, and when you go through your [Industry Training Authority] exam, and pass and everything, there’s then your Level 2, where you can get your Red Seal. Once you have your Red Seal, you’re basically a full hairdresser,” Floyd says. “I want to have my own product line and have my own shop. All the works.”

But before all that, she’s concentrating on nailing this perm.