École St Patrick High School’s Kimberlite Career and Technical Centre is undergoing an overdue “glow up.”
Former St Pat’s student and carpentry instructor Josh Bolstad told Cabin Radio that will mean a range of upgrades.
“We have a lot of old and aged equipment,” said Bolstad, who also owns and operates Back Bay Contracting. “And stuff wears out a little quicker, especially when people are learning on tools and don’t quite know how they work already.”
Bolstad said technology and tools on job sites have changed markedly in the past 20 years.
“We’re moving towards more battery-operated equipment, so that if students pursue apprenticeships or get jobs working with these tools, they’re more used to what they’re going to be using on job sites,” he said.
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Aside from upgrades to equipment and its Yellowknife building, the centre – known as KCTC – will also offer new programs.
The centre’s assistant principal, Cindy Kimove, said an aviation program will begin this fall in partnership with Medicine Hat’s Super T Aviation and Yellowknife’s Summit Air.
That program is “for students mainly in grades 11 and 12, but some grade 10s may be able to swing it in their schedule as well,” Kimove told Cabin Radio.
KCTC has also started a lunchtime club called Skills Sisters, in which female-identifying students can be exposed to education in the trades away from male students. The objective is to help high school-age girls build confidence in themselves and their newfound skills in the trades.
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The club has earned the attention of the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST), which has partnered with KCTC to start a program called Quantum Leaps.
Quantum Leaps, which runs nationwide, encourages 100 students across Canada to work with mentors to come up with their own functioning science, technology, engineering and math projects that benefit their communities. Girls from grades 8-12 have already started working with mentors.
KCTC said anyone interested in helping the centre purchase new equipment, such as flight and welding simulators, can register for the all-ages Arctic Anglers fishing derby on Prosperous Lake from April 4-6, 2025, which will raise funds for the centre.
KCTC will also host a “thrifted fashion show” at the end of April.
