Shaping Futures & Building Community
Shaping Futures & Building Community
With the guidance of instructors, students build and deliver commissioned projects for the community, while completing their Level 1 technical training before graduation.
This program has been running successfully for decades, providing a fully-funded head start to aspiring young carpenters in launching their apprenticeships and advancing their careers.
Every year, Surrey School District 36 students that enroll in the Carpentry Youth Train in Trades program start a unique training and work experience journey, combining technical training at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) and hands on experience at their base schools, either Guildford Park Secondary or Frank Hurt Secondary. What is especially unique about this program is that in addition to it being a dual credit program, it also provides students with real life experiences of being a part of a team that builds to order tiny homes and sheds for real customers.
Last June, SkilledTradesBC had the honour of attending a celebration and showcase at Frank Hurt Secondary School and Guildford Park Secondary School, where students, instructors, and staff proudly displayed the students’ work for parents, community members and local employers.
Read on to find out how School District 36 is not only giving students an opportunity to start their skilled trades apprenticeship training while they’re still in school (with no tuition!) but also an amazing setting to gain post-secondary and career ready skills to support a successful transition to their skilled trades training and career journey.
About the Carpentry Youth Train in Trades Program
The Carpentry Youth Train in Trades program is a full-time program that takes place during the second semester and applications are accepted and reviewed in the previous school year. Student applicants go through a rigorous process involving interviews with the Carpentry instructor and District Career Education Coordinator. Woodworking or shop experience and excellent attendance are considered great assets for successful applicants.
While the students are predominantly at their base secondary schools, Guildford Park Secondary or Frank Hurt Secondary, they do several weeks of technical training at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU). This partnership allows the School District to run the program and KPU provides the necessary training credentials for the students. While at KPU, students have access to the supports and specialized facilities for their technical training and have a chance to familiarize themselves with the school and learning environment, should they choose to continue their training there.
Building Tiny Homes & Sheds
Typically, every September, a call out is made to the community for prospective buyers of tiny homes/sheds. These homes are competitively priced with designs being finalized late fall with feedback loops between the buyers and instructor. Each tiny home/shed has its own story of purpose - one of the structures is destined to become a kitchen for a non-profit organization. In addition, all of them have their own unique design and specifications resulting from conversations between the owners and instructors throughout the school year. Owen Scharf oversees the Guildford Park Secondary program Marc Andres oversees the Frank Hurt Secondary program.
The program has been running for decades with dozens of structures leaving the school to their new homes. Pictures of previous classes and projects decorate the classroom walls, providing inspiration and reminders of the fantastic legacy this program has in the local area. To help with costs, community partners and vendors supply the school with affordable building materials and additional services.
Connecting Students and Employers
Local employers support the program by hosting site tours and also attend the session to network with these young carpenters as a way for students to learn more about different companies hiring apprentices. By the end of the semester, students have completed their Level 1 classroom training, formally known as Technical Training, and only need to fulfill their work-based hours requirements to fully complete the first step in their carpentry apprenticeship.
For one employer, this program is particularly meaningful – Kevin Dahl, a Workforce Supervisor at PCL Construction was a former carpentry program participant at Guildford Park Secondary in 2006. He went on to work at PCL to complete his carpentry apprenticeship and has mostly stayed with the company in his working career since.
“Our purpose is to support this program in the school district…We're looking for good carpenter apprentices to potentially hire down the road. If not now, then later. You know, they may call me four or five years from now.”
For Kevin, completing the program at Guildford Park was his ticket into PCL:
“One of my friends from school was actually working for PCL at that time as a first year apprenticeship too… So I called up Randy Callahan [now retired Workforce Supervisor at PCL] and asked if they were looking for any carpenter apprentices. I explained that I had done the Guilford Park Secondary program and since he was heavily involved with the development and roll out of the program, he appreciated the quality training I had received.
‘Don't worry about your resume.’ He replied, ‘just come in and we'll do your hire package.’ So I went to visit him at PCL and basically the rest is history.”
The program and legacy of success is a testament to the staff, students, community and employers that support it. It is a fantastic example of how the successful cooperation and shared goal of so many people and organizations can facilitate these students have an immersive carpentry education experience and potentially set themselves up for a rewarding and fruitful career.
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