CALLING LAKE – High school students at Calling Lake School had the unique opportunity to take part in a new partnership between the Northland School Division (NSD), Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc. (Al-Pac) and Woodland Operations Learning Foundation (WOLF).
During a May 5 presentation at Calling Lake School, NSD Supt./CEO, Dr. Nancy Spencer-Poitras congratulated the students on taking the opportunity to complete the course, which included time spent working on a simulator learning how to use a forklift, a feller/buncher, and a loader.
“This project is another example of how important partnerships are in education,” said Dr. Spencer-Poitras in a May 5 release. “As a school division, we are always looking for creative ways to enhance the learning experience for Northland students and increase their success. We very much value the relationship we have with Al-Pac and WOLF. Relationships with communities and education partners play an integral role in helping students graduate and achieve success.”
The week-long course counted towards the student’s high school diploma, and Dr. Spencer-Poitras said that there were talks underway to build it into a dual credit program with NAIT or MacEwan University.
To complement the four hours of simulator training, a certified teacher from WOLF also took the students through some theory, including how forests and societies go hand in hand, how the industry uses data, and some of the data analysis methods used by the industry.
“The simulator was pretty cool, I enjoyed that part. I really like the people who were running it,” said Keyano Cardinal, a Grade 10 student at Calling Lake School. “I would have to do more stuff with forestry to see if I actually wanted to do it (for a living) but I liked it and it was pretty fun.”
Despite the “eye-opening” experience, Cardinal wasn’t sure if they would pursue a career in the field.
“Just being outside seems fun, and working with other people, but I would have to do more stuff with forestry to see if I would want to do it or not. I did like it though, and it was a lot of fun.”
Principal Jason Wiks said that there are plans to bring it back next year, and they’re hopefully going to scale it up to include more schools in the division – NSD currently works with about 2,000 students, in 19 schools, across 288,347 square kilometres of land, according to their website.
“I think they’re important because it gives kids the opportunities to see industries like forestry in a wider scope,” said Wiks. “There’s very good jobs, and very different jobs across the whole industry, and the more our students get exposed to the potential and the possibilities, I think it’s huge for them to start mapping out their future after high school, which is really the goal of these things.”
