Rowan Hayes may only be 13 years old, but he already knows he wants to be a millwright when he grows up.
And this summer, he’s getting a taste of what that could look like at the Trades & Tech Summer Camp, hosted by Skills Ontario at St. Clair College.
“It's a long process, so starting to learn about stuff now is really good to just get a good step up,” said Hayes, who will be going into Grade 8 this year.
He’s part of the target audience for Skills Ontario Skilled Trade and Tech camps, which are offered at 28 locations across Ontario.
“We like to get in with our camp model to expose them to those kinds of careers before they get into high school,” said Kayla Bezaire, the summer camp program manager for Skills Ontario, who notes the camps are designed for youth Grades 7 to 9.
“A lot of times, at that age, they've already made up their mind about what they want to do, so it's up to us at Skills Ontario, in conjunction with our partners, to really get the message out there that there are really great, viable careers that are fun, you can make great money, and we're exposing them to things that maybe they didn't think about before,” Bezaire said.
The Summer Trades and Tech program launched in 2011 and has grown each year. There are 18 campers at the one-week camp at St. Clair College, and 400 youth in similar camps across Ontario.
While the activities vary from location to location depending on what each institution wants to highlight, campers are exposed to a mix of automotive power, electrical, culinary arts, tech, CNC machining and welding techniques, to name a few.
“Variety is kind of our big one, to just make sure that they're getting exposed to as many as possible, as a little taste-tester of what's out there for the kids,” said Bezaire.
Campers are also exposed to Eddison Robots, Oculus, and are creating catapults, completing LEGO challenges and cap the week off by making their own pizzas. Parents are invited for the parent showcase on Friday afternoon to check out the various projects the campers successfully completed over the course of the week.
Neytiri Ippersiel, 14, just graduated from Ford City Public School and is now off to Walkerville Collegiate Institute for Grade 9 in the fall. She’s interested in becoming a carpenter and decided to give this camp a try.
“It's really fun,” she said, while successfully learning how to make an extension cord, noting she loves the hands-on nature of the camp. “I love doing things with my hands, that’s probably the best part.”
Ippersiel also likes the fact there are a handful of girls her age in the camp, a trend she hopes to see continue.
“Not a lot of girls are in the skilled trades, because mainly, it used to be all men. I like that girls are actually going into it now,” Ippersiel said.
Nick Hayes, the apprenticeship manager at St. Clair College said this is an opportunity to showcase College facilities like the Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing and the Centre for Construction Innovation and Production. He said it also gives potential students head starts on their career planning.
“I don't think a lot of young kids get to see how cool the trades are, and all the cool equipment and technology that's involved,” said Hayes. “And by coming to this, they get to play around with that, and it just lights a spark for them.”
13-year-old Rowan Hayes believes it’s never too early to get a jump-start on your future and believes this camp is one thing he can do to help crystalize his decision to enter the skilled trades.
“For me, I'm definitely worried about my future careers, and I'm trying to make sure that I can afford a home and have a family in this economy,” he said. “So, this stuff definitely comes into my mind for the future.”
