The Dean of Trades and Skills at Olds College is hoping to see three to four dual credit pre-employment trades available there, so that students can come from high school and jump right into a trades pathway.
Dennis Beaudion points out that this is the time of year when Grade 12 students come to them for six hours a day, every day for 12 weeks. He says “at that time we put them through the first year curriculum that they would see in either a heavy equipment technician or welding tech, you know, welding program. They come through, they take all their training and at the end as long as they have the academic grades to go along with what they need to write that government exam, they’ll have the opportunity to write that first period government exam and become a first year apprentice.”
He adds, they received $63 million dollars from the provincial government a couple of years ago for the renovation and expansion of the W.J. Elliott Trades Building. Beaudoin says “I think with this new building we are even going to be able to, you know, bring out some other trades. So one of the other ones that we are thinking about doing is the electrician trade and one of the very first things we want to do is get our dual credit learners into that trade, so that they can be successful as well.”
For those that would like to learn more about enrolling, he says “we have the Olds College Very Important Personnel (VIP) tours happening here every Friday. So that would be a really great time for them to come down, take a tour of the campus, see our registration office, talk about trades and then register as they need be or at the very least we can make sure we guide them in the right direction.” You can also see more details online here.
Meanwhile, Olds College will be the only team participating on March 28th and 29th at a Skills Canada Alberta provincial landscaping/horticulture competition event on campus at the Landscape Pavilion. Olds College is the lone post-secondary institution in Alberta to offer a Landscape Horticulturalist Apprenticeship program.
