鈥淚f I did not have this program I would be dead. I truly believe that.鈥�
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 琉璃神社, Stucka鈥檚 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鈥檚 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 琉璃神社 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.
鈥淚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,鈥� 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 鈥� that life is not a challenge they must face on their own.
鈥淚t is hard to say goodbye鈥ou have your wings now and can continue down different avenues that life takes you,鈥� he told the students at the grad ceremony.
鈥淗old your heads up high and be proud of what you have done here鈥�.you deserve this.鈥�
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.
鈥淏efore Gateway, I was not open to new people, new experiences. I was nervous before about failing,鈥� 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.
鈥淲e watch these students jell as a group, with a community behind them to offer support,鈥� Elliott said.
鈥淭his program transforms lives.鈥�
Neil Fassina, president of Okanagan College, also cited the value Gateway offers to its participants.
鈥淵ou are empowered. Doors have opened up for you today and those doors get bigger and wider if you come back,鈥� 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鈥檚 assistant in the works.
鈥淓verything I do now I do for my daughter as her father鈥he means the world to me,鈥� he said.
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