含羞草研究社淚f I did not have this program I would be dead. I truly believe that.含羞草研究社�
That brutally honest self-commentary from 16-year-old Grade 11 student Kaden Stucka sums up the value being a participant in the Gateway Program has made to his young life.
As a Grade 10 student at Central School in Kelowna, Stucka含羞草研究社檚 life was spiralling out of control, and he was in a troubled relationship that led him to become a father at a young age.
Subsequently barred from seeing his daughter due to legal issues, Stucka含羞草研究社檚 life had bottomed out and looked like nothing was going to change.
Then along came an opportunity to be enrolled in Gateway, a 15-week program supported by both Central Okanagan Public Schools and the trades program at Okanagan College, in partnership with several local donors including Kelowna Rotary Club, Gary Bennett Family Fund, Colin and Lois Pritchard Foundation, Okanagan College Foundation, WorkBC, Steve Tuck and Don Myles.
The Gateway Program, now in its 10th year, strives to provide at-risk students with the necessary supports to successfully transition to college and ultimately sustainable careers in the trade sector.
The program involves certification for FoodSafe level 1, construction safety, forklift operation, level 1 First Aid and WHMIS.
Trades introduced to students at the OC trades building include carpentry, plumbing, welding, electrical, roofing/flooring, insulating/vapour barrier, automotive and culinary arts.
On Friday, Stucka was joined by 10 other students who together completed the program and received their framed graduation certificates.
Rob Law, Gateway coordinator, said the students who enrol in the program are challenged on many levels that most students never have to face, from drug addiction to mental health and homeless issues.
Law said 60 per cent of the students who have taken the Gateway Program over the past decade signed up for post-secondary programs at Okanagan College.
含羞草研究社淚t is a huge success for us to see these students come back to pursue their dreams, and know how to come back to OC and navigate their way around the college,含羞草研究社� he said.
Travis Neigum, who has been a Gateway program instructor for the last five years, says the emotional bond he forms with the students, and among the students themselves, reflects an amazing transformation they undergo in those 15 weeks.
Neigum talked about how students build their own sense of confidence, their belief in their ability to pursue their dreams, a greater sense of resiliency, and build connections of support within their community 含羞草研究社� that life is not a challenge they must face on their own.
含羞草研究社淚t is hard to say goodbye含羞草研究社ou have your wings now and can continue down different avenues that life takes you,含羞草研究社� he told the students at the grad ceremony.
含羞草研究社淗old your heads up high and be proud of what you have done here含羞草研究社�.you deserve this.含羞草研究社�
Ashton Sandberg, a Gateway graduate last year, also spoke at the ceremony, saying the program changed his life, which now sees him enrolled in the OC culinary arts program.
含羞草研究社淏efore Gateway, I was not open to new people, new experiences. I was nervous before about failing,含羞草研究社� he recounted.
Sandberg said he has learned it is less painful to have tried something new and failed than to not try at all.
Nathen Elliott, principal of Central School, said Gateway showcases the philosophy that it takes a village to raise a child.
含羞草研究社淲e watch these students jell as a group, with a community behind them to offer support,含羞草研究社� Elliott said.
含羞草研究社淭his program transforms lives.含羞草研究社�
Neil Fassina, president of Okanagan College, also cited the value Gateway offers to its participants.
含羞草研究社淵ou are empowered. Doors have opened up for you today and those doors get bigger and wider if you come back,含羞草研究社� said Fassina, speaking to the career trades opportunities offered by the college.
For Stucka, he looks forward to a new pathway opened in his life where none appeared to exist for him before.
He is looking forward to meeting his daughter, and he returns to Grade 11 with an idea to pursue a career in the plumbing trade, with the potential for a part-time job as a plumber含羞草研究社檚 assistant in the works.
含羞草研究社淓verything I do now I do for my daughter as her father含羞草研究社he means the world to me,含羞草研究社� he said.
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