Project Heavy Duty: 20 Years Together
Unique educational program celebrates 20 years in SD60
Although it faced some struggles in the beginning, Project Heavy Duty has proved to be both a valuable program for students in School District 60, but also serves to highlight what is possible when the community gets involved in education.
“We struggled to get this project okayed by the Board, but boy am I ever glad we did, and that it’s gone as well as it has,” said Trustee Ida Campbell, who has served on the Board for many years. “I’m thankful to the community and our staff; it’s incredible for the kids.”
Launched in 2002, Project Heavy Duty has allowed up to 16 students a year to learn to operate and maintain heavy duty equipment such as bulldozers, rock trucks, excavators, graders and even forestry equipment like feller bunchers.
The program takes a hands-on approach to learning, with the students spending up to 10 hours on each piece of equipment, according to the program’s director, Jeff Mayer, who provided the Board with an update on the program on Monday.
“This is just an amazing experience for kids, and it’s something very unique to Fort St. John,” Mayer said. “There are other heavy equipment operating programs throughout the province, but the kids are on the equipment for about an hour and half each – (these kids are) spending about 8-10 hours on a dozer alone.”
Students who are going into Grades 11 or 12 can take part in the program, and this past year, seven out of the 16 students were in Grade 11.
Many students who are interested in Project Heavy Duty are going into the Dual Credit program in their Grade 12 year, so they wouldn’t be able to participate that year, Mayer explained.
“If they’re doing their Heavy Duty Mechanic, there’s no better place to learn how to operate machines and see how they function and work because the students maintain the machines at the end of every day – at 4:30 it’s fuel up, grease and maintenance time,” he said.
This spring, the program mainly took place at the Parkwood Southlands Development site, where the 16 students in Grades 11 and 12 throughout SD60 spent a week learning about, and how to operate a wide variety of heavy equipment, under the close supervision of qualified operators. Local contractors, businesses and other agencies in the community provide support for the program by supplying equipment and operators, fuel, first aid, security and other services required for the project.
In addition to learning to operate and maintain the equipment, students receive site safety training from WorkSafe BC officers and other safety personnel before beginning to use the equipment. Qualified operators are always on the equipment with the students.
Mayer played an excerpt of a Moose FM interview with one of the Project Heavy Duty students, Meea, who thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
It was like being a real employee, she said, working on an actual worksite, and she got to run a rock truck, and excavator and a couple of dozers. One of the best parts of the program was learning how to take care of the machines.
“Because you got a look at how it works, and how you would take care of it on an actual job site, which was awesome,” she said.
Trustee Bill Snow said he’d been down to the site many times and enjoys seeing how the students are doing in the program.
“It’s so nice to see, you know they’re Grade 11s and 12s, and they’re really professional about it. We go to meetings down south, to other districts, and I brag about it.”
Project Heavy Duty paused for two years during the pandemic, which is why it’s celebrating 20 years of bringing this opportunity to the region, rather than 22 years.
“We’ve done 20 years, so let’s do 20 more,” Mayer said.
Superintendent of Schools, Stephen Petrucci said that keeping the program running is thanks to the whole community.
“After covid it was 50-50 whether we would ever start up again. For other districts to try to get something like this going would be nearly impossible,” he said. “The millions of dollars of equipment that’s on site, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fuel and operator fees is quite something.”
Petrucci also noted that Project Heavy Duty fits in well with the first commitment of the Board’s Strategic Plan, which is to promote varied and innovative learning experiences, and incorporate practical, hands-on, land-based and experiential learning applications into the curriculum.
“It’s hard to imagine a better fit, than Project Heavy Duty, which very few districts do, and our program is the best in the province. That’s because of the people who are looking after it,” Petrucci said.
The Board is grateful for the support of the following businesses whose generosity kept Project Heavy Duty going in 2024:
AAA SAFETY AND FIELD SERVICES
A.C.L. CONSTRUCTION LTD.
BAILEY HELICOPTERS
BRANDT TRACTOR LTD.
BUTLER RIDGE ENERGY SERVICES
CANADIAN GRIND
CANADIAN WATER SERVE & SAVE LTD.
COASTAL GASLINK
CONOCO PHILLIPS CANADA
DAKOW VENTURES LTD
DFA CONTRACTING/AMBIPAR RESPONSE
ED HARDER INDUSTRIES LTD
ELEVATION PHOTOGRAPHY
ENBRIDGE
ENERGY SAFETY CANADA
FORT ST. JOHN CO-OPERATIVE ASSOCIATION
FSJ WATER
G. BAUMEISTER LTD.
GFL ENVIRONMENTAL INC.
GOLDEN BASE CONTRACTING
GREAT WEST EQUIPMENT LTD.
HOTSAW LOGGING LTD.
INLAND KENWORTH LTD.
J BUECKERT LOGGING
JBL INDUSTRIES LTD.
LP PEACE VALLEY OSB
M & M RESOURCES
MACRO INDUSTRIES INC.
MCELHANNEY
MVP OILFIELD SERVICES INC.
NORTH PEACE SAVINGS & CREDIT UNION
NORTHRIVER MIDSTREAM INC
NORTHERN PEACE PETROLEUM
NORTHERN METALLIC
NVT LOGISTICS
PACESETTER EQUIPMENT LTD
PARKWOOD SOUTHLANDS DEVELOPMENT
PEACE COUNTRY DELITE ENTERPRISES LTD.
PETRON COMMUNICATIONS LTD.
PETRONAS ENERGY CANADA LTD.
RAVEN OILFIELD RENTALS
SHELL CANADA LTD.
SIEG SERVICES LTD.
SIGNTIST SIGNS & DECALS INC.
SILVER BULLET TRUCKING LTD.
SMITH FUEL SERVICES LTD.
SMS EQUIPMENT
STEEL TOES WORKWEAR SPECIALISTS LTD.
STRAD
SURELINE PROJECTS INC
SURERUS PIPELINE INC.
SYSTEMS RENTAL SOURCE
TOMMY GUNN TRUCKING LTD.
TOURMALINE OIL CORP.
TROYER VENTURES LTD.
UFA PETROLEUM
UUJO CONTRACTING
WESTAR OILFIELD RENTALS INC.
WILDBEAR REPAIR LTD.
WORKSAFEBC