A program that provides paid work experience for students at area businesses was celebrated last week as a successful initiative.
The Partners in Education luncheon last Wednesday at the Winkler Quality Inn served as a thank-you to those businesses who partner with local schools to provide on-the-job training through the High School Apprenticeship Program (HSAP).
Offered under the umbrella of the Red River Technical Vocational Area (RRTVA), the apprenticeship program has been well received in the region.
“We’ve got lots of kids getting hands-on learning, and it’s helping employers in the region, and those businesses are helping us by taking these students on and offering a career path,” said RRTVA director Lane Curry.
“I support it wholeheartedly … I would like to see this in every shop, every business, not just in the automotive field … in every aspect such as plumbing and carpentry,” said John Giesbrecht of Stars Truck and Auto Repair Service, which has been involved in the program for 10 years.
HSAP is available across a wide region in communities including Morden, Winkler, Sanford, Altona, Rosenort, Morris, St. Pierre-Jolys, Dominion City, Vita, and Sprague.
There are opportunities for students to work outside of the classroom at a wide variety of businesses for pay and get a start on their apprenticeships, said high school apprenticeship teacher Reg Toews.
“Their hours start counting towards that particular trade … and those hours also count towards high school credit,” he explained. “So for every 110 hours they work, they can also apply that to a high school credit to help them graduate.”
The students are paid minimum wage plus 10 per cent, he noted, and there are benefits to the employers including a provincial tax credit program.
Toews sees a number of advantages and benefits to the initiative.
“I’ve had students who have enrolled in this program who potentially were at risk for dropping out. They found this as a way to re-engage into school and eventually graduated and have become red seal in their trade,” he said. “To me, that is worth it in itself.
“Some students do it for awhile and they realize it’s not what they want to do, and that’s okay too because we believe that it’s okay to learn what you don’t like as well when you’re looking for a career.
“So there’s multiple reasons that students enrol in this program,” he continued. “This is an exploratory program, and we hope that students can treat it as such … I equate it to going to university or college. Most of these trades are considered four-year programs.”
And it can be a better option for some students than the vocational programs of the RRTVA.
“They are complementary. One does not depend on the other,” said Toews.
He values the support and commitment of the businesses that participate in HSAP.
“It’s a sacrifice many times for employers to hire youth because they don’t know what they’re getting necessarily … and they’re training and investing a lot in this, so it’s something we really wanted to recognize,” he said. “We really value it.”
“They get some extra funds above minimum wage, and the employer gets a kickback as well with a tax credit, so there’s some incentives there to help them learn on the job, and they don’t even have to be affiliated with our vocational programs,” said Curry.
“This opens many more doors because we don’t offer all 55 trades in our vocational stream,” he said, noting the RRTVA programs have about 400 spots that fill up, and HSAP can potentially take in 150 to 200 students.
Giesbrecht first got involved in HSAP with his own son. He now has four employees who went through the program and is currently working with two more who are at level one and level two.
He noted it can be a significant commitment, but you are generally working with students who are really invested in learning.
“The ones who enrol in the apprenticeship program, they’re looking at it as a career choice … it’s beneficial to them and also to us as an employer,” he said.
“It is more of a commitment for the employer, but I think it’s an asset that we appreciate,” Giesbrecht said, noting he hired someone who was an apprentice carpenter to work on his house. “It is beneficial to the employers … and there’s tax credits or tax advantages that you get by going through the program.
“I think it’s of tremendous value. For us, it’s an asset.”
