Provincial representatives joined some of the region’s educational leaders recently in getting a firsthand glimpse of the area’s vocational training opportunities.
The Red River Technical Vocational Area (RRTVA) held a one-day tour of its programs throughout the region under the banner of the RRTVA Amazing Race, and a provincial cabinet minister came away from it impressed with what she saw.
“It absolutely exceeded my expectations,” said Renee Cable, minister of advanced education and training. “We had a great day … got to meet lots of fascinating individuals and just see the hard work that is put into this very successful program.”
The RRTVA is a partnership of five southern Manitoba school divisions—Border Land, Garden Valley, Red River Valley, Western, and Morris—dedicated to providing high-quality technology education and vocational training to high school students.
The partnership came into being in the early 1970s and has grown into the largest consortium of its type in Manitoba. This cooperative model allows for a wider variety of specialized technical programming than any one of the partnering divisions could offer on their own, and that is something that certainly stood out to Cable.
“This takes an immense amount of co-operation and co-ordination,” she said, emphasizing the importance of all students having equal opportunities. “I think everybody should know that trades are for everyone.
“I think there used to be a thought about who is best suited to trades, and the reality is that it’s everybody. It requires math, it requires good social skills, great hand-eye coordination … and the professional level of training that folks are receiving makes them ready to either advance to post-secondary education or go right into the workplace.
“Those are the kind of opportunities that I want to know exist for my kids and for other kids,” she said. “We’re looking for more opportunities to bridge students from K-12 into post-secondary or into employment, and I am always looking for answers in the system to ensure that the system works better together, and this is a great example here of sharing resources, of really maximizing what we have available to ensure that as many people as possible are served in a good way.
“I thought it was really fascinating to see that the students were part of building homes [through the carpentry program in Altona] and to think of myself in that position how cool that would be to see the fruits of my labour and to see that I was able to do something that had a real-world impact from something I learned at school,” Cable added.
The RRTVA programs include auto body in Morris, automotive technology at Garden Valley Collegiate (GVC) in Winkler and Roseau Valley School in Dominion City, baking and pastry arts at Northlands Parkway Collegiate (NPC) in Winkler, carpentry at W.C. Miller Collegiate in Altona, culinary arts at NPC and W.C. Miller, electrical technology at NPC, aesthetics at NPC, hairstyling at NPC, heavy duty equipment technology at GVC TEC, piping trades at Morden Collegiate, and welding technology at Morden Collegiate and Morris School.
“Each of the local school divisions work with their neighbouring school divisions to provide a variety of training, learning, and lifelong skills through a shared partnership,” said RRTVA director Lane Curry, who noted last week’s tour showed “firsthand how our principals, instructors, students, transportation coordinators and administration from various communities work together for these learning opportunities.”
