Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB & Edge Factor Inspired 1550+ Indigenous Youth

Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB hosted its first-ever virtual Edge Factor event!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 22, 2022 – Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board and Edge Factor hosted a virtual skilled trades event! 

From May 23 to June 30, educators, students and families were invited to join the Skilled Trades Virtual Event to watch and share real-life stories and media on apprenticeships and careers in the trades.  Over 1550 students, Indigenous youth and community members attended the event and discovered skilled trades training and career opportunities!  

As we planned this event, we met with KPRDSB to understand their objectives and provide options for media, activities, and Keynote Presentations to help them reach their goals. Every event we host is unique- but they all have the same heart behind it: together, we want to inspire and engage audiences to discover training and career pathways that match their interests.

The key features of this virtual event included: Planning Guides for educators, and students, pre and post-event surveys and feedback forms, Company Profiles, playlists of career exploration media from the Edge Factor library, a pre-recorded skilled trades Keynote presentation featuring Jeremy Bout, President & Founder of Edge Factor.

Here’s what some of the students had to say about this event: 

“The Skilled Trades gives you the freedom to explore different pathways you can take for your future if you're still uncertain about it. Skilled trades can be done in high school which will not only help you decide your career path but will help you gain many life skills.”

“You should care about the Skilled Trades because there are people retiring and there aren't enough new young people taking their places. If you somehow can't get into College or University, it would have been a big option on your mind to go into the skilled trades. It's also good for your skills that you specialise in.”

The following four playlists included Edge Factor media that focused on the four sectors within the skilled trades and specifically featured women and Indigenous community members as video hosts:

1. Construction playlist
2. Industrial playlist
3. Motive Power playlist
4. Service playlist

For each industry, Edge Factor provided high impact videos, including:

• Virtual Workplace Experiences: These walk and talk tours give an inside look at what it's like to work on job sites and in real world companies.

• Career Profiles: Students were able to explore what a "day in the life" looks like in diverse careers while highlighting typical responsibilities, tools, and skills used on the job. 

• Geek Out: Skills and Processes & Tools & Equipment: These videos help learners prepare to enter the workforce as industry leaders Geek Out on specific tools and equipment they use on the job.

• Skilled Responders: These videos feature real life people sharing what inspired them to launch their training and career pathways, and introduce students to industries.

• Bonus! Edge Factor provided access to videos in the “Why Care” series which features industry and educational experts sharing insights on important topics and how they impact students and job-seekers. Discover why we should all care about topics like Apprenticeships, Skilled Trades careers, Women in the Trades, and more. 
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Thank you to Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB and OYAP KPR Pathways for making this event possible!

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