Students or oil rig workers – it was hard to tell at the official opening of the Northern Lights School Division's (NLSD) Trades Exposure Centre.
The $4 million centre was revealed on April 29 with a student demonstration team from Bonnyville Centralized High School (BCHS) working on the new service rig. The students wasted no time, excited to suit up and get drilling.
The centre was completed with a classroom and scaffolding shop. It now provides a safe space for senior students to learn skilled trades.
“It is such a fulfilling moment to see students on the rig in a safe, controlled environment,” said BCHS principal Corey Baker. “Their resumes just expanded and they became so much more marketable.”
BCHS first began piloting the Trades Exposure Program for the centre in 2013. The program trains students in the safety and application of eight skilled trades.
After graduating an online safety course, students are allowed to participate in three 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. shifts on the rig. This comes at the end of the course semester.
“It's all about the students and the exposure they're going to have,” said Mayor Gene Sobolewski at the event. “For the education side of the community this has elevated us to being leaders and innovators in the province of Alberta.”
To the students he added, “You guys have such a phenomenal opportunity.”
Project Manager for NLSD Ruth Isley, first took the idea for the centre to Ottawa two years ago.
She and other NLSD partners returned with a $1.5 million grant from the federal government's Western Diversification Program for the Trades Exposure Program and Trades Exposure Centre.
The Government of Alberta supplemented this grant with its Provincial Dual Credit Strategy grant of $120,000.
Today, NLSD has over 40 industry partners invested in the centre. Among them is Ensign Energy Services, which donated the rig to the development in May 2015.
Both the program and centre are the first of their kind. They were originally developed to give students a leg-up in northern Alberta's booming oil industry.
Ten students from BCHS have already completed the course.
“If the oil field picks up it would be nice to do,” said Grade 12 student Megan Paddison on a break from the rig. She wants to be a service rig worker after she graduates.
“It would be awesome to keep for students in coming years. This is one of the best things I've done.”
The economic downturn has disrupted the prevalence of prospects for students in oil, but remains an excellent opportunity for the next boom.
The recession did effect the completion of the project when NLSD looked for a company to drill the 150-metre on site well.
Twenty of the division's partners came together to use the rig to drill the well. They donated time and materials or offered services at a reduced cost to ensure the project was completed on time and on budget.
NLSD will rent the centre to other oil companies for service worker training. It will also be available to other school divisions across the region. These partnerships will keep the centre running.
NLSD students enrolled in the online course named the service rig ‘Aurora #69'last year. It is the first service rig to be owned by a school division.
