Houston Today, May 21, 2014

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Training to aid transition By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today

BARREL Racing

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Tori Long races around a barrel at the Pleasant Valley Days Rodeo last weekend. A good crowd turned out for the rodeo which ran all weekend and drew riders from Terrace to Williams Lake.

N o r t h w e s t Community College is offering training in Houston this fall for millwright, mineral processing, and heavy equipment operators. Regina Saimoto, NWCC Regional Director, says it’s part of the college plan responding to the closure of Houston Forest Products. While most of the 217 HFP employees have work lined up or are retiring, the closure will leave 60 people looking for work and 37 looking to retrain. “Being able to offer these programs in Houston allows us to part of the solution, and to provide options to the community when people need those options the most,” Saimoto said. The NWCC “Houston Plan” says they want training “to enhance the ability of workers to transition

successfully to future employment.” The college put sign up sheets at HFP to see which trades programs workers wanted. Ten workers said millwright training, 42 heavy equipment operator and 27 mineral processing. NWCC partnered with School District 54 (Houston Secondary School) to run millwright and heavy equipment operator training in Houston. They will be open to both adults and high school students, said Mark West, NWCC Online Education Advisor. Monica Strimbold, SD 54 Trades Coordinator, says a bus will bring students from Smithers for the programs as well. With a bus running between Houston and Smithers, “Smithers students can get programs offered in Houston,” she said, “and vice versa.” See NWCC on Page 3

College trades training links with local industry By Jackie Lieuwen Houston Today

NWCC has industry ties to make training effective and applicable. Mark West, NWCC Online Education Advisor, said they have local industry supporting their upcoming millwright and mineral

processing courses. Both Monster Industries and Canfor are supporting the Houston millwright training. “We have had input from both Canfor and Monster on how to better structure the course,” said Regina Saimoto, NWCC Regional Director. She added that

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Monster also viewed and gave feedback on the shop being renovated at Houston Secondary School for the course. Other details about their support and other possible support from industry are still being worked out, Saimoto said. “We will continue discussions to ensure

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a close match of the program with industry needs, and closer ties for participants in the program to future employment,” she said. The course for Mineral Processing Operator also has industry support. It is running in partnership with Imperial Metals

(which runs the Huckleberry and Red Chris Mines) and some of the training will be held at Huckleberry Mines. West says Imperial Metals requested that NWCC run this mineral processing course, which fits the national standard (National Occupational

Classification). “When we talked to industry, they tell us what they want,” said Mark West, adding that that increases the chances of training leading to jobs. “That link with training and industry is everything,” West said. “This institution needs to be able to

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react to the demands and the needs of the employment market. With that, we need industry partners to back these programs and to work with us. “Through that process we can create real opportunities for people to find longterm meaningful employment,” West said.

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