OCNews

Articles tagged "Women in Trades Training"

A welder in a previous Women of Steel program.
Women of Steel™: Forging Forward Program comes to Okanagan in partnership with Okanagan College and CWB Welding Foundation

January 16, 2023

Okanagan College is launching a new program designed specifically to encourage women to consider a career in welding this winter/spring. The Women of Steel™: Forging Forward Program, supported by the CWB Welding Foundation, is being offered in just 14 locations across Canada. As one of the host sites, students who choose OC will not only gain skills related to welding, but will also have opportunities that foster education, personal growth, confidence, and experiential learning.   “We continue to look for new opportunities that will support...

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Prospera donation to OC
Prospera gives big in support of Women in Trades at Okanagan College

November 28, 2022

More women will get a chance to lace up their work boots and take the first step in a career in trades, thanks to a recent $79,660 gift from Prospera to a program at Okanagan College that has already trained over 1,300 women since it was founded.   The Women in Trades Training program was created to remove barriers for women interested in pursuing trades education and help meet the community’s surging need for skilled trades professionals.   “These bursaries and added equipment provide opportunities for women to pursue trades training, supp...

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Female carpentry student measures a piece of wood with a tape measure
New ‘Step into Steel Toes’ course invites women to try carpentry

August 29, 2022

Home renovations on your to-do list? Curious about power tools and considering a project? Okanagan College is launching a new trades exploratory program this fall – exclusively for women. “More and more women are expressing an interest in learning skills related to carpentry, electrical, plumbing, automotive and sheet metal projects,” says Teresa Kisilevich, associate dean, Trades and Apprenticeship at Okanagan College. “Step into Steel Toes is designed to make it easier for women of all ages to feel comfortable trying out various tools o...

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Alanah Coss FortisBC Award Recipient
FortisBC powers up support for women and Indigenous students

September 24, 2021

New awards and opportunities for mentorship with FortisBC are making it easier for female and female Indigenous students to be successful with their trades education. FortisBC recently set up three scholarships for women in trades with a focus on supporting female students who are at the mid-point in their education. The scholarship comes with the potential for the student to meet with FortisBC representatives and connect with someone working in a role they may be interested in pursuing in the future. "We wanted to support students in payin...

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Edible Garden
Edible garden project at OC’s Penticton campus to feed students, community members

June 29, 2021

A partnership between Okanagan College's Penticton campus and the Medical Arts Research Group is helping to root out food insecurity amongst students and local families. An edible garden program is being established on the north end of the Penticton campus, with the aim to provide fresh vegetables to OC students and food bank patrons in the community. Medical Arts Research Group donated the wood and fence material for the project. Raised garden beds were built in May by students in the Women in Trades Training program, and installed outside...

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Plumbing and Pipefitting instructor Cemone Bredeson takes a break in the shop by a laptop
Meet Cemone Bredeson, Plumbing and Pipefitting instructor

November 25, 2020

Q: What is your education and background? A: I completed my trades training at BCIT to obtain my Red Seal certificate in the steamfitting and pipefitting trade.  I’ve got a B Gas ticket for the Province of British Columbia. I’m also Red Seal-certified in Plumbing and am currently working on obtaining my Provincial Instructors Diploma at VCC. Q: What is your area of interest? A: I am intrigued by how the brain works to process information. I want to know more about how people learn,...

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OC Women in Trades and Willowstone Academy student at the maker event
Making mentors: OC Women in Trades and Willowstone Academy students learn and build together

March 6, 2020

Sometimes a finished carpentry project turns out to be far more than the sum of its parts, when the tools, techniques and materials combine to create something unforgettable and transformative. The same goes for educational experiences, as demonstrated by a recent event that brought together students from Willowstone Academy and Okanagan College’s Women in Trades Training (WITT) program, with support from the Industry Training Authority (ITA). On Thursday, March 5 a class of WITT students arrived in the early hours of the morning to prep fo...

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Penticton Welding Centre
College powers up new welding building in Penticton

August 20, 2018

Welders training in the South Okanagan now have a state-of-the-art new shop in which to spark their torches and test their metal. Okanagan College officials, students, industry partners and community members gathered at the Penticton campus today to mark the opening of the College’s new $2.2-million, 465-square-metre (5,000 square ft.), welding facility. Among them was a class of 16 Welder Foundation students, who, under the tutelage of instructor Mark Stathers, will be the first to train in the facility. The shop they’ll soon step into is ...

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Dignitaries and students cut the ribbon to open the Vernon Trades Training Centre
College opens new Trades Training Centre in Vernon

August 7, 2018

A class of Plumbing and Piping Foundation trades students were the first to step through the doors of the newly completed Trades Training Centre at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus at 7 a.m. this morning. A few hours later, they helped to officially open the space where they will hone their trade.  Stephen Fuhr, Member of Parliament for Kelowna - Lake Country and The Hon. Melanie Mark, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training joined Okanagan College President Jim Hamilton and other College officials, donors, industry and communit...

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