On Thursday (January 11), Rocky View Trustees heard a presentation from Stephen Teasdale, a teacher and licensed mechanic that runs the RVS Mechanics Training Centre in Airdrie.

The program is offered at three levels for grade 10, 11, and 12 students to get a first taste of the auto mechanics field. The program is a working shop, with students actually servicing customer vehicles. Teasdale said he likes to explain the program like it's a small business that he runs by employing high school students.

Students in the program spend a half day every day in the shop, working either in the morning or in the afternoon depending on which level of the program they're in. The rest of the day, the students are at their home school working on core subjects like math, english and science.

Beside learning the basics of mechanics, Teasdale said students develop independence, motivation and work ethic through the program, which can benefit them outside of school.

"Any career or any occupation that they choose to go into, there is that work ethic and the showing up on time expectation that we all have, that if you don't have that instilled in you at some point over your schooling career, it may not come naturally until you've lost a couple jobs."

Not everyone that enters the program ends up in the mechanics field. Teasdale explained there is a variety of students, ranging from those seeking a career as a mechanic to those that just want to learn more about cars. Some students that enter in the first year of the program don't continue on.

"Whether the students come in and find out, 'you know what, I don't want to get my hands dirty' or 'I don't like pinching my finger when I'm putting breaks in a car' or something like that and they decide that this isn't their passion, but they at least have the exposure and experience of a year in mechanics to see what it's about."

Teasdale estimated that 80 percent of students that finish all three years of the program end up in the mechanics field, but others pursue different paths, like one that is studying to become a dentist.

The Mechanics Training Centre is just one of many programs in Rocky View that get students learning outside the traditional classroom. Teasdale sees value in that type of active learning.

"I find, at least in my classroom, often it's easier to retain that information when you can get them active and moving and involved in their learning as opposed to just sitting and lecturing on how things are supposed to be done."

The Mechanics Training Centre program is available to high school students from George McDougall, Bert Church, W.H. Croxford and the Community Learning Centre.

 

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