Kylor Cain is an ET/CL student who has his work practicum placement at Home Hardware, and as such, he has gotten a taste of the program's offerings. Kylor stuck through the entire program from beginning to end and had some valuable lessons about construction along the way. Kylor's employers were kind enough to permit me permission to go to the employees-only break room, free of the noise from forklifts and cash registers.

When asked about what his first impression of the program was, Kylor answered, “At the beginning I really loved it because, for one, before we came into the program the teacher actually came to the school and said "This is what we are and what we do." He went on to say he was impressed by our school shop. "When they brought us to the NIC shop, I was amazed as to how huge it seemed. It was awe-inspiring. The goal of the shop lessons was better than the one at the high school. The high school approach was very much "get the grade", whereas with the college course [ET/CL] it was "learn it and that is your grade". That's way better, because doing it for the grade basically means you can hand it in, do it totally wrong, and get a 60 just so you don't have to do it again the next year."

Kylor recognizes that has grown some, but given his past, he has some troubles retaining information on matters like finances and resume writing. The instruction was solid, but as Kylor expressed, “I didn't learn as much as I wanted to. I'm still not good at managing money or resumes, cover letters, that sort of thing." He does compliment the program by saying, "I'm going to say I really like the freedom. Even though we had to build the sheds and sawhorses, I also got to get a lot done in the sense of other projects. I made my sword, shelf etc.” He goes on to say, “"The teachers do a really great job of keeping us in line, but still giving us the freedom to grow. Most other places confine you and don't let you grow.”

About this blogger: Kane Schlichting is a writer, blogger and college student with the ET/CL (Employment Transition/Construction Labourer) program, with interest in short stories and photography. Contact Kane

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed within this blog and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of North Island College (NIC) or Alberni.ca.. NIC or Alberni.ca are not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by this blogger.