Sparks are flying in the community college welding lab these days, and it’s not just from the cutting torches.
Excitement is high among many students at the Nova Scotia Community College now that Halifax has won the lion’s share of a coveted shipbuilding contract.
“We’re all very excited to get into the industry and start our careers. That’s what we’ve been working toward these last few years,” said 22-year-old who is Samantha Thurber of Halifax, who’s enroled in NSCC’s welding and metal fabrication course at the Akerley Campus in Dartmouth.
Welding is just one of the many skills the Halifax Shipyard will be looking for in the coming years.
Last week, Ottawa announced that Irving Shipbuilding in Halifax will receive the $25-billion naval vessel building contract for six-to- eight Arctic offshore patrol ships, and up to 15 replacements for the Iroquois-class destroyers and Halifax-class frigates.
The contract is projected to bring 11,500 jobs to Nova Scotia during peak production in 2020.
Seaspan Marine in Vancouver was awarded the $8-billion contract for building coast guard and other non-navy ships.
NSCC president Don Bureaux said the shipbuilding contract will be a great incentive to community college students right across the province.
“A project this large simply cannot be met in Halifax alone,” Bureaux said.
Bureaux said for the past decade, the NSCC has been built on the premise of being flexible in response to labour market demands.
“When we see a niche or we see a major initiative that requires skilled labour, we have been built on a culture and on an ethos, that we are here to respond,” he said.
Bureaux said NSCC plans to meet with Irving officials at the Halifax Shipyard, and the college’s government partners to see just what kind of skills will be needed when ship construction begins.
“We’ll be looking at what the needs are going to be, and what our capacity is to bring those two worlds together,” he said.
Thurber said she’s looking forward to making a career out of what she’s been learning, and is grateful to be there.
Thurber applied to the welding course three years ago, and did not make it in.
A year later with help from Women Unlimited — a career development program for unemployed or under employed women — Thurber is on her way.
“I pretty much knew I’d be going into welding. I got here and I ran a few beads, and I loved it, and I’ve been doing great ever since,” she said.
Michael Innes, a 21-year-old welding student from Bedford admits he wasn’t the best student, and when he got out of high school he didn’t know what he wanted to do.
“I worked for a couple of years in a warehouse, and one day a neighbour asked ‘What are you doing with your life?’ and suggested taking up welding.”
When he applied two-and-a-half years ago, there was a year wait to get it, but once he was there Innes knew he’d found his career.
Right from the start, Innes said, students were being told about the opportunities that the shipbuilding contracts would bring.
“And it’s all following through, and now there’s going to be jobs everywhere,” said Innes, who will be graduating later this year.
He said he’d recommend a career in welding to anyone.
“I like the sense of accomplishment in building something at the end of the day,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it since I started last year. This is just a great program all round.”
kmoar@hfxnews.ca
