For a couple of hours on Wednesday, the St. Thomas More School gymnasium was full of excitement and learning, though it had nothing to do with sports.
More than 150 students in grades 4 to 6 participated in a career fair hosted by the Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) and the Calgary Construction Association (CCA).
Participating trades included HVAC, carpentry, plumbing, sheet metal, welding, millwright, electrical trades, project management and design.
Eleven-year-old Kidus Abasha, a student at the school, said the career fair was both exciting and new.
“It’s actually a really cool thing. I really like the electrician and Elan Construction because I thought those were really cool,” he said, adding that he’d consider a job as an electrician or in flooring.
Despite an 89 per cent surge in insulator apprenticeship registrations and record-breaking enrolment across Alberta’s skilled trades, over 7,000 apprentices sat on classroom waitlists in 2024–25, CCA President and CEO Bill Black said that skilled trades across the board, including Abasha’s favoured flooring and electrical, are in need of workers.
“The reality is, if you want to secure the construction workforce of the future, you have to start as early as you can in a young person’s life. You can’t just wait till high school anymore, you need them and their teachers and their parents to see that their kids’ eyes light up when they get hands-on with these things,” he said during the event.
Because of retirements and the number of people leaving the industry, the dire state of skilled trades in Alberta is not likely to change for the better in the next decade.
“The workforce challenge could actually get worse before it gets better,” Black said.
More fairs possible: Admin
Though no official plans are in place for similar career fairs at any other schools in Calgary, Black said that the model is highly transferable. He highlighted the importance of meeting children where they are, like in their school’s gym.
Bradford Rosgen, the principal of the St. Thomas More school, said that even without considering a potential career in the trades, he hopes that students now know the difference between carpentry and cabinet making, for example.
“Many students don’t know that difference until they explore it in high school. The more time that they have to understand what’s out there and to gain those interests, they’ll have more understanding of what’s available when they have to start planning for the future,” he said.
“Post-secondary planning is usually only started in grade 10 or 11; why don’t we start planning in grades four, five and six? That way, when they go home, they can ask Mom and Dad, ‘What do you do?’ and start talking about that at an early age.”
If Black’s prediction of a struggling trades industry 10 years from now comes true, students around Abasha’s age will be the ones filling that gap, Rosgen said.
“In 10 years, they’ll all be 19, 20, 21, 22, so let’s start that early so that they’re prepared to fill those openings in construction and all the other trades,” he said.
“As the Baby Boomers’ children get older, the Baby Boomers’ grandchildren will have an interest and understanding of what’s available to them in the next 10 years.”
Prioritizing trades in youth, from children to teens
In the past year, both Calgary’s school systems have emphasized the need for skilled trades workers, including both the CCSD and the Calgary Board of Education, as well as the provincial government.
Rosgen said that while dual-credit programs are effective and popular, giving younger students a look into skilled work is equally valuable.
“If we start now in planting those seeds, then they’ll have a better idea of where they want to direct their attention in junior high and high school. Plant the seeds early, the crop will be more plentiful,” he said.
As someone in a hiring position for the CCSD, Rosgen said that these days, a degree is not the end-all, be-all when it comes to credentials.
“When I was going to school, you had to have a degree to get a job. Now, just because you have a degree doesn’t mean you’re employable, but there’s a huge market for folks in the trades, huge job openings and lots of availability,” he said.
