CTV News Edmonton has reported:

Students from several area junior and senior high schools explored skilled trades at a career fair Tuesday at Fort Saskatchewan’s Dow Centennial Centre. Skills Canada Alberta hosted Skills in the Heartland as part of the national non-profit organization’s Try A Trade program, bringing several industries and trades together to reach potential future workers.

Grade 7 student Kalayna Sousa said she hopes to become a mechanic, welder or engineer. “My dad’s a mechanic, and I feel like it’d be super fun to do that,” Sousa said at the event. “I definitely like to do a lot of things. I feel like building things would be super fun.”

Representatives at the fair came from Keyera, Inter Pipeline, Pembina Pipeline, North West Redwater Partnership, Dow Chemical, Wolf Midstream, Spartan Controls and Mammoet. “We have tons of different things for them to explore,” said Victoria Anderson, manager of communications for Skills Canada Alberta.

Tanya Gardiner, Edmonton branch manager for global heavy-lifting and transportation firm Mammoet, said the event introduces students to career possibilities. “We’ve been participating the last five or six years,” Gardiner said. “We’ve seen a lot of people, a lot of foot traffic, a lot of kids that wouldn’t otherwise know about cranes and heavy transport.”

Aaron Boser, an educational instructor with Spartan Controls and a former automation instructor at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, said he hopes the fair will encourage young people to pursue skilled trades. He said he wants it to “plant the seed” for rewarding careers. “I’m really excited for these young kids (who can fill) our shoes,” Boser said. “We need them because they’re a big part of the economy here in Alberta.”

The fair aimed to appeal to the next generation of skilled workers. CTV News Edmonton’s Miriam Valdes-Carletti contributed files.