'Imperative that we promote those opportunities': Trade and Tech Day held at Yorkton Regional High School

Yorkton, Sask. -

Skills Canada Saskatchewan hosted their annual Trade and Tech Day: Pathways to Promising Careers, at Yorkton Regional High School on Wednesday.

Throughout the day, Skills Canada Saskatchewan staff, alumni, and industry partners promoted trade and technology careers to students through various educational hands-on activities.

Executive director of Skills Canada Saskatchewan and alumni, Jayden Leister, said introducing students to the field is important for many reasons.

"There's going to be a huge demand for people in the trades and technologies in the last couple of years as different changes are happening within the workforce, and so it's imperative that we promote those opportunities to the youth now,” he said.

With Yorkton Regional High School offering various trade and tech courses, one teacher said it helps provide students opportunities for learning about future career opportunities.

"Many students, they don't really realize the connection that some of these skills that they learn have to the world outside of high school and they sometimes just focus more on the assignments themselves,” said Chad McDowell.

“Once they start to expand on those and use those skills in other places, they start to realize there’s a lot of avenues, a lot of doors open now for me because the skill that I learned here is very transferrable to other areas.”

“That’s one of the reasons why we encourage students to get involved because a lot of times when we introduce a specific skill to them in a specific area, it will open up that transition opportunity for them.”

Every year, Skills Canada Saskatchewan hosts provincial competitions for secondary and post-secondary students who are interested in specific trade and technology categories.

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For years, Yorkton Regional High School has had students attend those competitions, including one student who made it to nationals last year for the Outside Power Category in mechanics.

"Just being in the mechanics course in class helped me gain attraction about motors and mechanics and the whole topic in general. Now fast forward to Grade 12 that's what I'm choosing as a career,” said Jayden Kachur, Grade 12 student at Yorkton Regional High School.

It is because of the trade and tech courses offered at the school that Kachur plans on pursuing a career in the trades and skills industry.

"Especially with the skills program, I've learned quite a bit about more into the depth about different trades as well as my own trade, and it gave me a taste of what it's going to be like and how the mechanics field is,” said Kachur.

“I also learned a lot after school working with my teacher and going in-depth about certain topics. For giving me a taste of what the trades actually feel like, I credit that to the skills program and working with my teacher."