COCHRANE— A unique program is offering Grade 10 students in Cochrane a unique educational experience.
The Building Futures program is an alternative education program for students at Cochrane High School and Bow Valley High School in which students get real-world experience on a job site working side-by-side with tradespeople to construct a house from the ground up.
As not to overwhelm the tradespeople, students are on-site in groups of two to four, while their colleagues are in the classroom, where they complete their Grade 10 core classes.
The program was made possible through a partnership between Rocky View Schools and Kingsmith Builders, a Cochrane-based construction company.
The students spend about two weeks getting their training and safety certifications out of the way before going on-site to begin their hands-on work, said Craig Wiens, owner of Kingsmith Builders.
Many of the students who enroll in the program enjoy it so much they rarely want to return to the regular high school stream, Wiens said.
“They basically make their own little youth group, because they’re not mixing with the general population,” Wiens said. “The class actually gets pretty tight, and it’s pretty cool to see because the kids kind of transcend a lot of the high school culture that can sometimes be toxic. The depth of their relationships goes a lot deeper.”
The students assist in nearly every aspect of the construction process, including framing, cribbing, siding, electrical work, plumbing, painting, flooring, cabinetry, finishing carpentry and anything else allowed by Occupational Health and Safety.
Each of those trades is broken up into modules, for school purposes, and each module is an accredited course counting toward the student’s graduation.
The students do their construction work on a rotating basis, depending on which stage of construction the house that the students work on is in, said Richard Dupre, one of the two teachers supervising the program.
“One of us will take a handful of students, whether it be two that day or five that day, depending on which trade is working, one of us will go and work with them and supervise them while the other teaches their curriculum,” he said.
The learning for the students does not end with their curriculum or the various processes involved in construction— The youth also learn a wide variety of life skills, Wiens said.
“There are some interesting things that we’ve had to teach them, like teaching them how to shake hands, how to engage an adult, and ask questions and show interest and have a conversation. Things that a lot of students don’t necessarily do or are taught,” he said. “There’s a lot of life-skills that happen throughout the year. It’s crazy seeing the kids come in at the start of the year. They’re such a quiet group and then the people they are by the end— Their confidence grows, their awareness of who they are and what their interests are, grows. It’s been a really cool program.”
Fellow teacher Dave Pedersen said the program is a valuable experience for the students, who get an inside look into what life is like for many young people joining the workforce after high school.
“They’re joining the workforce, actually. They learn all of those skills— Having to work with other people, and working with adults, how to hold yourself, how to get respect from an adult and how to come to work every day and have pride in what you do,” Pedersen said.
Dupre said he and Pedersen have also both learned a lot during their time supervising the program.
“We love it. We learn something new every day. These kids don’t realize that I’m a 32-year-old man that learns every day too, alongside them. How fortunate am I to learn something outside of my profession every day too, right? The opportunities that Dave and I get to work alongside these kids and grow with them— It’s unbelievable,” Dupre said.
The program has been put on hold for now, due to the provincial public health restrictions in place, but the students should be back on site the second week of January.
