ESTEVAN - Youth in the southeast have a unique opportunity to try out their potential future professions before committing to anything.
Southeast Advocates for Employment presented their latest acquisition – the Oculus program – that allows users to try various apprenticeships virtually.
Michael Fornwald, the organization's expert with the program, with the help of Michael Dunne, one of the Southeast Advocates for Employment board members, demonstrated how the program works during the organization's annual general meeting on Sept. 22.
Dunne chose to try stick welding. With 3D reality glasses on and special remote controls in his hands, he was able to learn the basics of the trade. And while in reality, he was just moving his hands in the air, he said the experience was "really good." The guests could follow the process on the screen.
"It's fairly real. You use your hands to grab things and move stuff around, just as if you were holding the object. And you have jobs that seem real, like you have to fix air conditioning on a roof, or you have to drive a machine, and somebody will yell at you if you do it wrong," Fornwald explained. "You can see all around … It's like you're actually there too."
Fornwald said that this program is suitable for people who want to go into an apprenticeship. Through it they get to try out what they want to learn or if they have no idea what they want to do, they have a wide array of programs that they can choose from.
There are currently about 15 career options available, including residential electrician, construction welding, mining engineer, mining machine operator, heavy equipment operator and more.
"There are some about technology. There's robotics welding. There are some robotic technicians. There's a whole bunch of stuff regarding technology. And we get to add new simulations every once in a while, about five every year," Fornwald said.
The list of options to try is updated regularly and up next will be some ag-focused options, as well as nursing experiences.
The program was designed and created in Brockville, Ont., and was introduced to Southeast Advocates for Employment last spring.
"The Ministry of Immigration and Career Training contacted us and asked us if we would like to purchase it, and they would (allow us) the funding to do so. So after taking a look at it a few times, we said, 'Absolutely.' This technology is going to be absolutely phenomenal for youth coming up through the ranks. Any young person that is a gamer is going to love this. And it is going to provide an opportunity to really look at some of the apprenticeship programs that exist," said Southeast Advocates for Employment executive director Debbie Hagel.
They already had 21 people going through the program since they received it this year. They've also contacted the high schools in the area, as well as the Southeast College to further promote the opportunity.
"I want to make sure that this is known about in our community. We talked to the Estevan Public Youth Centre, we're going to work with them so that youth through their new centre can have an opportunity occasionally to go through this futuristic technology, state of the art. And I really do think that this is going to be so advantageous to our youth," Hagel said.
To book an appointment or for more information, people can contact Southeast Advocates for Employment.
