High school students interested in the trades flocked to NAIT for the “wildly successful” Next in Trades event on Sept. 22. 140 students participated in workshops, speaker sessions aimed at showing what a career in the trades could look like.
“It’s critical for us to promote the great opportunities, the great careers, that a trades career can really have for students,” said Josh Boyd, Director of the Office of Apprenticeship.
During the event, students explored several different programs, including carpenter, insulator, ironworker and heavy equipment technician. Boyd said it helps students to understand what they could be doing every day and “get their hands on tools, on material.”
Next in Trades started in 2023. At the first event, over 100 students aged 16 and up explored 15 different trades. Staff, alumni and industry members guided students through workshops and offered advice. This year, Next in Trades also lined up with Apprenticeship Day, celebrated on the fourth Monday of September.
NAIT also piloted their first summer intake for apprentices this year. Boyd said that there’s a lot of demand from students to get into the skilled trades, with increasing shortages in labour. The Business Council of Alberta says that “700,000 retirements are expected in the skilled trades occupations by 2028.”
This summer, over 120 students trained throughout July and August instead of having to wait until September to start their training.
Boyd explained that the added intake is another way NAIT is trying to meet the needs of industry and student demand. “The way we dictate and make decisions around all this is, where’s the student demand? Is there enough student demand to warrant sessions, or at least explore offering more summer sessions?” he explained.
“If students want to get trained, our focus is providing that opportunity for students to get trained. And if that’s in fall term, winter term, or now exploring more opportunities in summer, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
NAIT will host another Next in Trades event in February. They will also invite female high school students to explore a career in the trades during NAIT’s Jill of all Trades event. Interested students can find out more about NAIT’s Office of Apprenticeship events on their website.
