Submitted by Will Arscott 

 

 

The meeting was held in the upper lounge at the Saskatoon Club. We had good attendance and were joined by Tim Squires on Zoom.  Our MC for the meeting was Steven Wilson and the greeter was Avis Hardy. The meeting opened with the singing of ‘O’ Canada led by Gary Rusu. This was followed by a very appropriate blessing asked by Al Morton. He reminded us that our goal as Rotarians is to contribute to the greater good of all. Donna Gauthier was cashier. Mark Gryba took care of technology.

 

 

Our guest speaker was Terry Seto who was introduced later in the program.

 

Kent Smith-Windsor was also a guest at our meeting for the second time. Kent is about to take over as chair of the RAP Board and is looking for a Rotary Club to join.  Any members wishing to contribute to a bribe to have Kent join our club can bring their contributions to the next meeting.

 

 

Gary Kerr is fighting covid and has isolated at his place at Anglin Lake. Paul Gauthier is on the mend and feeling better. He is hoping to be back at the next meeting.

 

 

November is Rotary Foundation Month.  You should have received a letter with information on your standing towards your first or continuing Paul Harris award.  I believe if you have not gotten this email that it is available from our club secretary Graham Pearson.

 

We have been given a supply of Rotary pins for the current year. Pins with the ‘Imagine Rotary’ logo were distributed at the meeting.

 

The District Grant Certification Workshop will take place on November 22 at the Saskatoon Club. If we are to apply for district grants it is a requirement that we have at least two people qualify.  To date five or six people are attending and more would be welcome.  There could be wine involved,

 

Grocery cards are available from Donna Gauthier. We have supplies of cards from both Sobeys/Fresh Co and the Co-Op. If you contact Donna ahead of the next meeting, she will have your cards for you at meeting.

 

 

Our club will sponsor its first Craft Fair on Saturday November 12. It will be held at the Cathedral of the Holy Family across from St. Joseph’s High School. The hours will be 10 to 3. This project is being headed by Linda Petrow. Linda reports that she has enough workers in place but that there is always room for more to participate.The fair will help the sellers of handmade craft products ahead of the holiday season.  

 

Additional vendors would be welcome. To date Linda has sold 37 tables but would like to have about five more. The cost for a table is $50 or $70 for a table with power. There is a $5 discount to vendors who supply their own table.

 

Rotary will make money on the table rentals, the $5 admission, and for a concession that is currently being planned. All members are encouraged to attend and support this event.

 

 

This project has now been completed.  The winners were:

 

Jim began by saying he needed to remind himself over the course of the project that from mistakes come wisdom. Much was learned that will aid in future raffles. Jim believes that next raffle could do much better but this first one was an overall success. The raffle brought in about $5,500 of which $2,100 was in donations. We will still receive another 25% of our sales as a grant from SLGA.  Jim gave special thanks to Steve, Mark, and Amor as well as the Raffle committee.

 

Jim outlined several changes under consideration for the next raffle. The hardest part was getting the prizes donated. This part of the project could start now for next year. If you have an idea of who might be willing to contribute a prize, please speak to the committee now.

 

 

 

Terry was introduced by Will Arscott who expressed a special interest in the topic. Will and Betty are both university graduates, but their two sons have gone into trades with success. 

 

Terry Seto is the Coordinator for Recruitment Services at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. Terry is a certified red seal chef having worked in the industry for 15 years before moving to Saskatchewan Polytechnic in 2002 as an instructor at the Saskatoon Campus. Now in his 21^st year with Saskatchewan Polytechnic, Terry is currently the Coordinator for Recruitment Services, a position which promotes Saskatchewan Polytechnic to students as a choice for their post-secondary education.

 

Terry began by saying the programs at the Polytechnic fall into two broad categories. The first, is probably more familiar to most people. This is the training for recognized trades such as electrician, pipefitter, or chef. This makes up only 18% of the program hours at the Polytechnic.  A major part of their programs is technical training for a very wide variety of jobs covering most of the skilled jobs we encounter each day.

 

The formal trades education ends in a red seal which recognizes the individual as a journeyperson across Canada. The Polytechnic does not manage these programs and students who wish to pursue a career in these areas do not apply to the Polytechnic. These programs are managed by the Saskatchewan Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission (SATCC).   The Polytechnic delivers the formal part of the program. The full program consists of time in trade and the formal course work. The SATCC oversees the student progress and schedules them into formal courses at the Polytechnic as they move through their qualifications.

 

A major part of the Polytechnic’s programming is devoted to technical training in areas as diverse as Engineering, for example, civil engineering technology and medical fields such as Licensed Practical Nurse or Pharmacy Technician. There are programs in business covering marketing and accounting. Students can earn certificates, diplomas, and degrees in these areas.   Some courses are very specifically designed to qualify the student with a demonstrable skill.

 

All the programs at the Polytechnic are fully accredited and can provide university credit for students that eventually choose to upgrade their education. The idea (goal) is that a two-year course at the Polytechnic will translate into two years in a university program. In practice it does not always work out completely. The Polytechnic advantage is that after two years students are employable and can join the workforce. Then they can make a further decision about more education in the future.

 

There are many challenges:10,000 more red seal journeypersons are going to be required in Saskatchewan by 2028. This is a large number and does not take account of the large number of retirements that are expected in the current workforce. Currently, 25% of all journeypersons in Saskatchewan are age 55 or older with only 10% under 25 years. A lot of effort will be required just to train enough people to replace the retirees, never mind producing 10,000 additional journeypersons. This already is affecting wages for skilled journeyperson. In some trades a new journeyperson can start at more than $100,000 per year. They also get paid well compared to their peers while they are still apprenticing.]

 

There are other challenges. Computers are making their mark on all the trades. It used to be once a journeyperson got their red seal their education was complete. This just cannot be the case anymore as technology changes how things are done. Over time an ever-larger portion of what the Polytechnic does will be upgrading for people working in their area. The pandemic has not helped and there is work needed to catch up to where we should have been in terms of the number of people trained and upgraded.

 

One of the problems with recruiting students into the trades is the perception that they involve heavy work. This is much less true than in the past. One area that has improved is that there are ever more restrictive rules around heavy lifting. There is also a lingering bias in society that trades jobs are done by people that were not able to be university material. This is simply not true anymore.

 

An area that requires attention is the place of women in the trades. In Saskatchewan only 4% of the Red Seal tradespeople are women. About 11% of the apprentices are women. Things are moving the right way but there is a very long way to go.

 

Terry ended his talk by contrasting Polytechnic and University education. Students should consider their likely return on investment when making decisions about post-secondary education. The Polytechnic will make them marketable in one or two years compared to taking a university degree that may lead to no job prospects at all. The programs at the Polytechnic are reviewed regularly to be sure they answer a real need in the job market. Again, students can upgrade to a university level education in the future with their program reduced by recognition of the training already taken. The Polytechnic also has many micro-courses to prepare students for a very particular need in the workplace.

 

About 94% of Polytechnic grads find immediate employment in their area of study. The institution takes pride in their reputation for producing skilled workers. Studying at the Polytechnic is not easy as many students transferring from university have discovered. In many ways the demands are greater than in university. The courses are highly structured, and students are tested continually. Attendance is required. As Terry observes the purpose of the Polytechnic is to prepare students for work, period.

 

Terry was thanked by Steve Wilson. In recognition, the regular donation will be made to Bethany Homes.

 

The next meeting is on November 14, 2022, and there will be a presentation on the Rotary Foundation.