The North Island College (NIC) Trades Training Centre in the Comox Valley campus is a spacious and modern facility with an expansive carpentry shop and bright classrooms, the perfect learning space for skilled trades apprentices to learn their trade. It is there that we meet with Maya Diamond, a Youth Train in Trades Program participant who enrolled in the 24-week Carpentry Foundation program in her Grade 12 year.
Maya’s love of carpentry started when she was young – and you could say it was literally built around her. Her dad built one of their houses when she was young and she always admired it. “I always thought it was really cool being able to build your own things. And it was kind of like a form of art. It’s nice to be able to build beautiful stuff.” She would help her dad with projects but it wasn’t until she began attending high school woodworking and shop class that she started to take it more seriously.