A recent boost in apprenticeship registrations across Ontario is also being felt in Chatham-Kent.
Chatham-Kent Secondary School held its first apprenticeship event Tuesday, where six skill trade companies employed six successful students.
Aleisha Stonefish was among them and said she got interested in welding repair as a Grade 11 student last year at CKSS.
It wasn't something Stonefish, now 17 and in Grade 12, thought she would enjoy, but the first-hand experience changed her mind.
"I saw the passion people put into it," she said. "I saw an opportunity being a female and got lucky. I didn't want to be a girl at my workplace; I wanted to be an iron worker and get gratification from that."
Stonefish is now an apprentice at CDN Metal Fabrication. After she graduates from CKSS in June, she will continue the apprenticeship. If she fulfils the requirements, in a few years she will be a licensed ironworker with a Red Seal.
Brian Leidel, cooperative education program coordinator who handles education planning with the CKSS, said the province has provided the school with advanced resources and grants for experiential learning. He added, "the government's push of going outside the classroom for outside work shows the significant need for people in trades."
Lediel emphasized the importance of how each student should have the opportunity to enroll in a co-op program to 'test drive' their career.
The Ontario government also announced on Tuesday that apprenticeships across the province went up by 24 per cent last year, including a 28 per cent jump among women.
