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By rdnewsNOW staff

Sept.23, 2024

CACI celebrates Alberta’s Apprenticeship Day with new experiential opportunity for students

Sep 29, 2024 | 1:38 PM

High school students from central Alberta had the opportunity to learn more about what it would be like to apprentice as a welder or heavy equipment technician recently.

On Sept. 23, students came from the four Central Alberta Collegiate Institute (CACI) partner school divisions to experience “Apprentice for a day” at Olds College of Agriculture and Technology.

Organizers say students were selected from across the CACI partnership to fill 15 spots in welding and 15 in heavy equipment technician to shadow apprentices. CACI created the opportunity in recognition of Alberta’s Apprenticeship Day.

According to officials, CACI’s intent was to mark the day this year, by giving students an opportunity to work with second year apprentices in welding and heavy equipment technician, in recognition of the important role of apprentices in Alberta’s economy.

In the morning, students participated in a session about Alberta’s apprenticeship program highlighting that there are more than 50 skilled trades certified within the province. In the afternoon, officials say they each worked with a second year apprentice in the Olds College skilled trades shops, shadowing real apprenticeship learning.

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“This was an opportunity for high school students to better understand the journey of an apprentice. We aim to provide students with a clear picture of the apprenticeship training journey and what skills will serve them best for success in pursuing a skilled trades career,” says Jackie Taylor, CACI Executive Director. “We know that the skilled trades learning offered in our schools and with our post-secondary partners through dual credit is life-changing training for our students and prepares them strongly in academic readiness, industry skills, and overall maturity wanted by employers in today’s economy,” says Taylor.

She says, “CACI is our collaborative effort in Central Alberta to develop as many impactful experiences as possible that cause high school students to better understand the path to their career choices, and the importance of seeking opportunities while in high school to best prepare them for these careers.”

CACI partners include: Red Deer Public Schools, Red Deer Catholic Regional School Division, Wolf Creek Public Schools, Chinook’s Edge School Division, Red Deer Polytechnic, Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, and CAREERS.

Officials say CACI was approved for provincial funding in the spring of 2023 for skilled trades programming and became operational in September 2023.

CACI officials say they are very thankful to CAREERS for sponsoring the lunch, Bilton Welding for providing welding gloves, Optimum Equipment Solutions for providing heavy equipment work gloves, and A-A-Ron Engraving for donating engraving work on the welding gloves.

“Thank you to our CACI partner organization CAREERS for their ongoing effort to find meaningful career-building opportunities for our students. If you know of a job opportunity you think might be a fit for a student, please contact CAREERS at careerscentral@nextgen.org.”

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