A pilot course giving students a taste of what various trades jobs are like just wrapped up at Vanier Secondary School.

Open to Grade 11 and 12 students, Introduction to the Trades differs from other trades courses because it encompasses a wide variety of trades skills rather than focusing on one.

"I'm not making tradesmen out of them, they’re basically being introduced to each of the trades that’s involved — carpentry, plumbing, drywall, electrical, finisher, floorers, painters, the whole nine yards," said teacher Dave Munro.

Students learn the basics of all these skills, then at the end of the course they construct a fully functional bathroom mockup to test their knowledge.

Along the way, local trades people come in to give 'tricks-of-the-trade' advice, and offer information about the required schooling, wages, and local and provincial employment climates for each of the trades.

One of the inspirations for the new course is Munro's prediction of a shortage of skilled trades workers due to the provincial shipbuilding contracts.

"It’s going to suck all of the current trained tradesmen out of the industry and it’ll be our responsibility to offer the opportunity to these guys to go in and backfill," said Munro. "Any way you slice it, there will be a huge advantage in the very near future for anyone considering the trades as a career."

But even if these students don't choose a career in the trades, Munro said the skills taught are invaluable.

"And if they don’t go down the trades they’re going to be homeowners one day," said Munro. "The skills they’re taking away from here are definitely going to be lifelong skills."

Student Tristan Pinal realizes the importance of the skills he's learning.

"It's a fabulous program. You learn a lot of stuff," said Pinal. "And it's definitely going to help me in life."

With a class made up of mostly teenage boys, Munro said he tries to make to it fun while keeping safety a No. 1 priority.

He gave an example of how he teaches: "Just as they’re finishing up drywall, getting ready for painting, I went around with a hammer and I punch a hole in the work they’ve done," said Munro, adding that after students close their dropped-open mouths, he teaches them how to repair the hole.

"'You’re going to see this at a party in about year, if you haven’t already seen it, somebody’s going to get all hammered up and put a fist through the wall, now you know how to fix it before Mom gets back on Monday,'" he told the students.

In his many years of teaching various trades programs, Munro said this course has had the best student response so far.

"Attendance is awesome; I don’t have kids skipping my class at all," said Munro. "I’ve never seen a class so engaged for a full semester, there’s been very little down time, very little class management having to be done at all."

SOURCE: comoxvalleyrecord.com