High school students across the province who are interested in operating heavy equipment can now gain more experience through an enhanced co-op program.
The program is the result of a partnership involving the anglophone sector of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, and the New Brunswick Road Builders Association.
The program’s first three weeks involve classroom work, following six weeks of training in a mobile classroom on the school’s property. Each student will have their own simulator to learn how to operate skid steers, backhoes and wheel loaders. The final nine weeks of the semester are spent in the field, practising what they have learned.
Woodstock High School will host the mobile classroom for the remainder of the school year. It will then move each semester to schools around the province.
“The mobile simulator training centre will provide high school students across the province with an introduction to heavy-equipment operating as a viable career option while expanding their learning experiences,” said association president Randy Chase. “Given the high demand for workers in these lines of work, it is important to attract youth to this industry. This course will help prepare students for a viable career after they graduate.”
Read the full GNB News Release here.
