Eighty female students in Grades 10, 11 and 12 from schools within the District School Board of Niagara (DSBN) and the Niagara Catholic District School Board (NCDSB) spent a day at Niagara College, April 24, learning about the opportunities that await them in the skilled trades.
It’s the second time since December that Niagara College has hosted the Women in Trades event, which gives students hands-on opportunities to explore the labs within NC’s School of Trades. The event is held at the College twice a year through the Ontario Postsecondary Access and Inclusion Program (OPAIP), which was introduced in 2018 to address non-financial barriers for underrepresented groups.
“It’s a way to give students an opportunity to see themselves in something without the pressures of (being) around all of their friends,” said Kendra Neaves, Manager, Recruitment and Engagement at the Welland Campus, who helped plan the event. “It takes away some of that social stigma and it allows the students to experience something that’s different – something they could easily excel at and easily be very successful in.”
The day included tours of several labs within the School of Trades. DSBN students participated in demonstrations put on by the Electrical Techniques, Carpentry and Renovation Technician, and Hairstyling programs, while NCDSB students got a closer look at the Motive Power Technician, Mechanical Techniques (General Machinist) and Hairstyling Programs.
New this year was a speaker series featuring successful women in trades who hold high positions in their respective companies.
“We had the president of Peninsula Construction, we had the president of PAC Roofing (and) we had two health and safety coordinators,” Neaves said. “They did a wonderful job explaining to students how they got there. So having an opportunity (for the students) to see that not just Niagara College wants (them), but (also) the industry was essential.”
She said the feedback she gets from students has always been positive because many of them don’t realize the trades opportunities available to them until they come to the College.
“There are a lot of eye-opening experiences with students,” Neaves said. “They say ‘Oh, I didn’t know I could do this,’ because a lot of times there’s a lot of stigma around trades.”
There are jobs within trades they also learn about for the first time when they come to NC.
“I always get a lot of people who don’t realize there’s programming in machining; they always thought machining was just working a mill or a lathe,” Neaves said. “Then they get an opportunity to see our CNC machines that they actually have to program to create something.”
She said events like the Women in Trades event are essential to expose young women to career paths in the skilled trades, which are in high demand as the number of people nearing retirement outnumber young people entering the working world.
“We really want to make sure that we’re seeing the gap and filling it. So if this may be the only time that they get to experience something in the trades, they are able to do so in a fulsome capacity.”
Chip Morningstar, Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program and Technology Consultant with DSBN, said the Women in Trades event helps students make informed decisions about postsecondary pathways.
“The DSBN and Niagara College are providing extremely valuable opportunities for female and female identifying high school students. Some students have left these events with new knowledge about skilled trades, and some have even changed their minds about career paths,” he said. “We have had great feedback from our teachers and students after every event. We appreciate the planning that Niagara College goes to and the effort that the instructors put in to make our students feel safe and comfortable and have meaningful sessions.”
