Indigenous students see career options at college

By Lethbridge Herald on August 2, 2024.

Herald photo by Alexandra Noad Matthew Prete helps students from OYEP measure the electricity generated from their wind turbine kit at the Lethbridge Polytechnic.

Alexandra Noad
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

Students from the Outland Youth Employment Program (OYEP) spent the day Wednesday at Lethbridge Polytechnic making their own wind generators out of cardboard and dowels as part of their science week.

OYEP is a six-week work experience and post-secondary exploration camp for Indigenous youth ages 16-18.

Warren Anderson, STEM project manager at Lethbridge Polytechnic, says the students got to experience career options first hand to help guide their decisions in the future.

“So we figure that if students have that experience and exposure, then they’re better informed to make those decisions. Whether they want to pursue something in that trade path or redirect their energies to a different topic,” said Anderson.

Along with giving the students experience it also gave exposure to what the Polytechnic has to offer for future students.

“It’s a great experience for us to get acquainted with them and different individuals from different areas of the province, and it’s a good exposure for the Polytechnic to bring these individuals here,” said Anderson.

The students will spend the week discovering what both the Polytechnic and University have to offer in regards to their STEM programs. This includes the Wind Turbine Technician and Electrician programs at the Polytechnic and the New Media program at the university.

Deserae Yellow Horn,  education navigator for the Blackfoot Confederacy, says this year they wanted to give the opportunity for the students to discover both the Polytechnic and university instead of having to choose one or the other.

“We wanted to give those opportunities to students and to let them know that they didn’t just have to make the choice of possibly coming to the university of Lethbridge or possibly going to the Lethbridge (polytechnic.),” said Yellowhorn.

While OYEP is only in its second year, Yellow Horn says she hopes the camp will run for many years to come.

“We are very excited that OYEP chose to house themselves here for their science Week and that they decided to reach out to Lethbridge University in the first year. We hope that this program will continue for many years to come.”

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