Skills Canada Alberta’s 2020 Skills Exploration Days offers students the opportunity to participate in a hands-on learning experience to introduce them to career opportunities in the trades. This year the program was virtual for the first time. Finning’s sponsorship of the program made it possible for over a 1,000 Junior High students from schools across the province to connect virtually with teachers providing support and instruction to help them use the tools and materials provided to design and build a one-of-a- kind prototype. Each school received a legacy tool kit full of power tools and equipment valued at over $4,000 as a gift to the schools to enhance their Career and Technology Foundations (CTF) programs.
“Finning has been involved in Skills Canada for a long time and we’ve had apprentices compete in the provincial and national Skills competitions so we are so pleased to be able to support Skills Exploration Days, a program which is directly tied to our focus on STEM education outreach for youth,” said Patricia Nelson, Manager External Training for Finning Canada. “Especially this year with the challenges of providing a hands-on learning experience during a pandemic. The virtual program and the tool kit allowed students the opportunity to participate and hopefully inspired some of them to pursue careers in the trades.”
This year’s program was well received and generated some very positive feedback from the teachers.
“Your organization did an incredible job to facilitate this event in unprecedented times. Thank you for your flexibility through this to allow us to participate.”
“It was nice to have the tools and materials to let the students gain exposure to disciplines that might spark their interests.”
“Being able to provide students with the opportunity to see success in a new way is going to help build student confidence and will open their eyes to different career paths they may be able to follow.”
“Experience in conceptualizing and then taking the idea right through to creation. Rarely do school projects and assignments permit such a complete developmental experience.”
“Teachers and students were thrilled to receive these gifts from Skills Alberta. Thank you. Enthusiasm for Skills was the best outcome of the legacy toolkits.”
“On behalf of Skills Canada Alberta, we would like to thank Finning for all their support with Skills Exploration Days. Things may have looked a little different this year, but the impact of design thinking, building and career connections was just as powerful,” says Becky Peterson, Education Coordinator, Skills Canada Alberta. “The legacy toolkit was a huge success and provided us the opportunity to put tools into the hands of so many more students than ever before. But these are not just tools. These are tools that will give students the power to gain confidence in themselves, to try something new, to learn new skills, to be creative and to bring a design to life.”
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