Pre-Construction Students Gussy Up Central Frontenac

Julie Druker | Sep 18, 2013

Students of the Skills Link Blossoms Pre- Construction Program, an eight-week program offered through the St. Lawrence College Employment Centre in Sharbot Lake through Services Canada, have strapped on their tool belts and hard hats and have been bettering the local community while putting their new skills to the test. Under the tutelage of Central Frontenac Fire Chief Bill Young, the students in the program have been tackling a number of projects in and around Central Frontenac to fulfill the practical element of the course, which also includes two weeks of in-class studies.

I visited the students at the Treasure Trunk in Sharbot Lake last week where they were in the process of erecting a new portable 10 x 12 ft double-door storage shed, complete with vinyl siding and a shingled roof. They designed the project on paper first and Bill Young compared it to “designing a house, only smaller.”

Prior to this project the students had completed an earlier project at the ice rink in Arden where they replaced all of the rink boards. After completing the shed the students will be putting in a new stair well at the new basement access entrance at North Frontenac-Community Living.

Students who complete the course will receive a diploma and Young said the course is “a great way to impart construction skills, prepare them for the work force, and give them hands-on experience.” For one student, Cody Massey, it was the first time he has had the chance to learn how to use tools he had never used before and his first time doing any kind of construction work. After completing the program he will working in construction up north in Resolute Bay, where he landed his first construction job. Katie Hoadley also enjoyed the course. “You are working at something different every day, which makes it enjoyable, challenging and interesting,” she said. She is also hoping to land a job in the field in the near future.