July 2016 Newsletter

In this issue: 

 

 

Message from Gail Smyth, Executive Director

As you may have already heard, this was another very successful year for Team Ontario at the National Competition, held this June in Moncton, NB. With 68 competitors from high schools and colleges across Ontario, and another 45 advisors and parents, this was the largest Team Ontario we’ve ever sent to a national competition. In keeping with the excellence demonstrated at the Ontario Technological Skills Competition (OTSC), Team Ontario brought back 12 Gold, 13 Silver, and 9 Bronze medals, for a total of 34 medals, out of a total 44 contests.

Please join us in congratulating these competitors and their impressive accomplishments – these skilled students and apprentices demonstrate that the future of skilled trades and technologies in Ontario is indeed bright.

Yet another great success this year was the Skills Ontario In-School Presentation Program. Skills Ontario has reached 125,000 elementary and secondary students across the province through this popular presentation. Our momentum doesn’t slow over the summer months either: this summer, we are facilitating 21 Skills Work!® Summer Camps across the province for students going into grades 7, 8, and 9. In addition to exploring careers in skilled trades and technologies through a variety of hands-on workshops and games, these young people will also learn about skilled trades entrepreneurship as a possible career path – what a way to spend the summer!   

Over the summer, our team is also keeping busy with planning for the new 2016-17 school year. One of the many exciting things we have planned for 2016-17 is the launch of a new website in Fall 2016: The “Skills Work!®” online resource will revise and renew our popular Skills Work!® Booklet, by making the information available online, more accessible and more dynamic, with the inclusion of videos and resource links.

Just like the Skills Work!® Booklet, the online version features information for students, teachers, and parents about careers in the skilled trades and technologies across the communication, industrial and manufacturing, service, construction, motive power and transportation, and technology sectors. Just like the booklet, the Skills Work!® website also features resources for further information and an FAQ section for students and parents. Look for www.skillsontario.com/skillswork online this fall.

Lastly, I have to mention the Ontario Technological Skills Competition (OTSC); we are so eager to start planning for the 2017 OTSC – in fact, some of the planning is already well underway! As it makes its big move to the GTA, it will no doubt be the largest, most inclusive, accessible and exciting OTSC yet. Please mark May 1-3, 2017 in your calendars and join us at the 2017 OTSC!

So thank you once again for your tremendous support of Skills Ontario throughout the year, we wish you a happy and healthy summer season!

 

Warmest regards,

Gail Smyth

 

2016-17 Program Guide online

Please note that our annual fall mailing is being moved online for September 2016, so you will not receive a physical copy in the mail next year.  Please keep an eye on our website under the “Resources” tab on our website for more information.

 

OTSC 2016 Save-the-dateOTSC save the date

As it makes its big move to the GTA, the 2017 OTSC will no doubt be the largest, most inclusive, accessible and exciting OTSC yet. Please mark May 1-3, 2017 in your calendars and join us at the 2017 OTSC!

 

School Year Wrap-Up

We’ve finished the school year with approximately 125,000 students reached via our in-school presentations and Aboriginal Initiatives workshops, including 1,984 presentations delivered via 1,425 site visits!

In-School Presentation received a 91.7% effectiveness rating from over 200 teacher evaluations and a recommendation rate of over 99%. 100% of teachers say the In-School Presentation is a valuable for their students. In addition, over 93% of student indicate being more aware of options available through apprenticeship/college after participating in the presentation program.

Young Women’s Initiatives saw just shy of 3000 students, and after attending, 91% of participants indicated being more interested in exploring a career in the skilled trades and technologies.

Aboriginal Initiatives ran five events this year, including a successful pilot of an Aboriginal Student Conference at the OTSC. Coming up this summer, our Aboriginal Initiatives Lead, Ashley Pszeniczny, will be helping out at the Lightning Trail Camp in Timmins (Northern College) on August 8th, and a hybrid Trades and Tech Day and Mentoring Event that she’s organizing as part of a camp being run by Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

Thank you for another great school year!

The skilled trade and technology fun continues this summer at our Skills Work!® Summer Camps! We are hosting 21 camps across the province for students going into grades 7, 8, and 9. Spaces are still available at some camps, including an all-girls camp at Conestoga College (July 18-22), a camp at Sault College (July 25-29), and Canadore College (August 15-19). Please visit our Camp webpage for more info.

 

Skills Ontario Scholarship Application Due Date Approaching: August 15, 2016

Tell your students about this exciting opportunity to receive a $500 scholarship from The Skills Ontario Staff and Board of Directors! Each year, this scholarship is awarded to students on their way to a community college to pursue a career in technology. Click here to learn more about eligibility and application guidelines.

 

Call for volunteers

We're always looking for people to help us promote the skilled trades and technologies to Ontario's youth.

Here are just some of the opportunities available throughout the year:

  • Female mentors (tradeswomen and females working in the skilled technologies) for the Young Women's Career Exploration Events. These events are facilitated throughout the school year in communities across Ontario.
  • Judges for the Cardboard Boat Races. Judges are needed province-wide in the fall and winter.

At the Ontario Technological Skills Competition (OTSC) hosted each May, we're looking for Technical Committee members, Contest Judges, Marshals, Forklift Drivers, Human Resources Professionals, Workshop Leaders and Aesthetics Models. In particular, we are seeking additional volunteer support for the Elementary Technology Challenge, a volunteer co-chair for the Elementary Green Energy Challenge, and volunteer Tech Chairs for Animation, Automation and Control, and Graphic Design at the OTSC. For more information on our OTSC volunteer positions, please click HERE.  To volunteer for this event, you may REGISTER ONLINE

 

New Cardboard Boat Race locations

We are happy to announce that two new locations for the Cardboard Boat Races have been added for 2016-17: a Secondary boat race will be held in Sault Ste. Marie in December 2016, and an Elementary boat race will be held in Belleville in January 2017. Registration for the Cardboard Boat Races opens September 30th – keep an eye on our website for news, schedules, and details this fall.

 

Skills Ontario in the news

The OTSC garnered excellent media coverage across the province this year, with 59 unique stories about competitors and their achievements, as well as another 20 stories about Team Ontario competitors at the national competition in June.

Check out more recent stories on our Media Kit page.

Skills Ontario Platinum Sponsor Feature: Workplace Safety & Insurance BoardWSIB

Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) is an independent trust agency that administers compensation and no-fault insurance for Ontario workplaces. We are committed to delivering what matters to the workers and employers of Ontario: fast, accessible service and fair benefits at a fair price.

The WSIB is one of the largest organizations of its kind in North America. Our 4,000 dedicated staff provide workplace injury and illness insurance for more than five million workers and nearly 300,000 employers across Ontario in every sector of our economy.

Each year, the WSIB receives approximately 200,000 claims from injured workers, a number equal to the population of Windsor. To run this system, we collect and manage over $4 billion a year in employer premiums. No tax dollars are involved.

But today’s WSIB isabout much more than just compensation, as important as that is. We also help get injured workers back to work and back to a better quality of life. Injured workers want and need to return to meaningful, rewarding work as soon and as safely as they can – and not to be left sidelined, inactive and unproductive.

The best possible outcome is for workers not to suffer work-related injury or illness in the first place. Education and awareness are the key to making workplaces safe, and the earlier we educate young people about safe work practices, the safer they will be once they’ve entered the workforce. Getting young people thinking about safety in the workplace is paramount.

The WSIB has been a strong advocate of working safely through its partnerships like the one we’ve had with Skills Ontario since 2004. Through activities such as the Elementary Challenge and Workshop and the Secondary Competition, this partnership has helped us to engage the young workers in understanding that working safely is important. The WSIB is proud to support Skills Ontario as a partner in workplace health and safety.

 

Man of Many Skills: CLACCLAC

From pilot, to factory worker, to welder, to plumber, Curtis DeGraaf has worked in several careers—all by the age of 30.

“As a kid, I read the Tin Tin comics and he always flew airplanes, so I grew up wanting to be a pilot,” says Curtis. “I joined air cadets, got my private pilot’s license and glider license, and took aviation in college.”

While there he realized the pilot’s lifestyle was not for him. For a short time, he worked in a factory. After getting laid off, he decided to get a skill.

“I became a welder and welded for four-and-a half years. At 22 years old, I was already making $25 an hour. Then one day at work I looked up and saw an electrician working. It was pretty interesting so I started taking classes and tried to get an apprenticeship.”

Like many would-be apprentices, he had trouble, until his cousin Jason helped him get a plumbing apprenticeship at Besseling Mechanical, a Hamilton-based mechanical contractor.

Leaving welding to become a plumbing apprentice took sacrifice. “I cut my pay almost in half, but I knew if I didn't do it then, I would become too comfortable and wouldn't be able to do it in the future. It was definitely worth it.”

The first years as an apprentice came with additional challenges. “The work is physically demanding, and you have to learn to follow someone else’s instructions.” But he kept his eye on the end goal.

Curtis’ work ethic and attention to detail as an apprentice were noticed by his instructors at Mohawk College, who asked him to compete in the 2011 Skills Ontario competition.

“I love competition, and it was an exciting contest.”

At the end, he was awarded the silver metal. “Silver is bittersweet. You think, what could I have done better? But the fact that I competed was an honour in itself and I wouldn't trade it.”

Curtis achieved his journeyman certificate in 2013. But he hasn’t stopped there.

He achieved Gasfitter 3 and took a backflow protection course. “When people look at plumbing they often think of somebody with a toilet plunger and snake. They don't realize that the plumber is the one running natural gas, and running medical gas in the hospitals.

“There are so many different skills that I intend to pursue. I recently became a supervisor and there’s so much to learn in that role.” Curtis is currently the plumbing foreperson at the new CLAC Cambridge Member Centre site.

“I’ve played around with going into design, and maybe higher level management positions. But I have to take it one step at a time and see what opportunities become available.” One thing is certain. “I was meant to be in the trades.”

 

Advice from Curtis – try a trade

If you are in high school

  1. 1.       Take co-ops to get experience and connections.
  2. 2.       Try several trades.
  3. 3.       Listen to the journeypersons you work with.