Rides — Steering students at Crocus

Auto tech program helps keep kids in school, Froese says

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One cookie-cutter style of education doesn’t resonate in all students, with Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School offering a range of hands-on training centred on specific trades.

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This article was published 15/03/2018 (2204 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One cookie-cutter style of education doesn’t resonate in all students, with Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School offering a range of hands-on training centred on specific trades.

One of its biggest trades-related efforts is its Automotive Technology program, which regularly feeds the local automotive industry with young professionals who are eager to establish themselves.

For Grade 11 student Gavin Reid, time spent taking part in the school’s Automotive Technology program feels like a break from the rest of the school day, sitting in class.

Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun
Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School’s Automotive Technology        program staff consists of, from left, Hugh Henderson, Adam Clayton, Jeff Kasprick, Tim Froese and Trent Sloane, who are seen in the school’s 20-vehicle garage on Thursday.
Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School’s Automotive Technology program staff consists of, from left, Hugh Henderson, Adam Clayton, Jeff Kasprick, Tim Froese and Trent Sloane, who are seen in the school’s 20-vehicle garage on Thursday.

“I don’t really like sitting in a classroom. I’d rather be in here doing hands-on work,” he said during a break from running diagnostics on his 1999 Dodge 2500 truck.

Growing up at a nearby farm, he said that he has tinkered with machinery since he was young, developing a passion that he hopes to see evolve into a career after high school graduation.

Reid is one of approximately 250 people who take part in the school’s Automotive Technology program, which draws students from throughout the Brandon area.

Participating in the Automotive Technology program is an effective means of entering the workforce straight out of high school, teacher Hugh Henderson said, in that students can leave with a level one accreditation, which qualifies them to begin work as apprentices.

Henderson is one of four teachers who make up the Automotive Technician department, joining colleagues Jeff Kasprick, Tim Froese and Trent Sloane in instructing students along with education assistant Adam Clayton.

Right next-door to their 10,000-square-foot, 20-vehicle facility is the school’s Collision Repair program, which carries a teaching staff of two, joining welding, hairstyling, the culinary arts and other specialized fields students can choose from at Crocus Plains.

Although Kasprick said they try to instil in students the importance of other subjects, convincing them that math and science is important has proven a greater challenge with some students than it has with others.

Applying these subjects to hands-on automotive work helps establish their relevance, and therefore students’ receptivity, he said.

Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun
Crocus Plains teacher Hugh Henderson examines a diagnostic on state-of-the-art equipment with Grade 11 student Gavin Reid.
Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun Crocus Plains teacher Hugh Henderson examines a diagnostic on state-of-the-art equipment with Grade 11 student Gavin Reid.

Henderson said that some students whom other teachers pull their hair out trying to educate end up being some of the Automotive Technology program’s greatest shining stars.

This is a point that Froese said his own childhood can attest to.

He credits trades-based programming with keeping him in high school during his youth.

“I lived for shops,” he said, adding that if not for hands-on education he might not have finished high school.

On that front, he said the government investment in the trades-based education is “the best initiative the federal government ever put forward, because it keeps kids in school.”

The provincial government is also a key player, Kasprick said, with the province regularly providing funding for the latest technology that students can learn from, which puts them ahead of the game as soon as they enter the workforce.

The local business community has also been keen on supporting the program, he said, adding that there are few, if any, local shops that don’t have Crocus Plains graduates on staff.

Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun
Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School Automotive Technology teacher Hugh Henderson runs a diagnostic with Grade 11 student Gavin Reid, on Reid’s 1998 Dodge 2500.
Tyler Clarke/The Brandon Sun Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School Automotive Technology teacher Hugh Henderson runs a diagnostic with Grade 11 student Gavin Reid, on Reid’s 1998 Dodge 2500.

Precision Toyota joins other automotive shops in town by taking in students and giving them on-the-job experience.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re doing a transmission or doing anything; anything we do, they’re there to help us out,” automotive technician Tyson Klassen said. “They’re definitely interested in wanting to learn and figure out what we’re doing.”

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB

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