Deciding what to do with life can be hard as a teenager, but with the right tickets and tools youth can get a head start to their career.
Ben Perrault, a student who is enrolled in a Brooks Secondary School and Vancouver Island University dual-credit carpentry program, is taking on an opportunity. His carpentry talent is on display as he moves through the 2012 Skills Canada competition.
Perrault placed first at both regional and provincial levels and is moving on to nationals in Edmonton, Alberta, from May 13 to 16. If he wins there, he will be off to Germany July 2013 for the 42nd annual World Skills competition.
He said there were different challenges at each level. He is the only competitor from Powell River to move on to nationals. “For the regional competition we got a set of plans,” he said. “We didn’t know what they were going to be. It was a picnic table. We had six hours to start from scratch to build the picnic table and whoever was closest to the measurements was the winner.”
He said at the provincial level, competitors were assigned to build a dog house complete with a window, roof and door. They were given six hours and were judged the same way as at the regional level.
He added for nationals, competitors can find out what they are making but don’t get measurements. “But you have the scope document,” he explained. “It’s going to be a gazebo-type thing. It should be challenging but fun.”
Skills Canada provides trades and technology career promotions supported by businesses and government to meet the needs of BC’s economy. The competitions are Olympic-style for students and apprentices in over 40 areas of trades and technology. About 500 people from across Canada come together for it. They have the chance to be tested with exacting standards against peers from all over the country with the opportunity to compete against people from around the world.
For Perrault, carpentry is almost second nature. He grew up around his father, Rod, a vice-principal at Brooks whose hobby is carpentry. He said he plans on making a career out of it.
“My whole life I grew up helping him, hanging around. I always liked it. Then doing the course at VIU and the high school has got me way more interested.”
He started his second year at VIU on May 1; a course that runs six weeks into June. Perrault plans on moving where the work takes him.
As for Skills Canada, he said he would like to go to Germany next summer but is taking it step-by-step. “I’m just looking forward to competing against people who are just as skilled,” he said. “It should be challenging. It’s definitely trying. It’s not easy to be under the time pressure and build it nicely, but I kind of like that pressure.”
