The 173 students who enrolled at the Center for Employment Training last September are one month away from graduation. But before they receive their paper and begin work in their chosen vocational fields, these masons, chefs, and electricians today participated in what has become almost a rite of passage at the institution: the CET Open Day. A combination of design, industry and just plain hard work, the CET open day is always a feast for the eyes and the mind. Keith Swift found that this year is no different.
Keith Swift Reporting,
From home construction to hospitality management, today CET students showed off the products of their industry and creativity. We go first offsite in Lake I where carpentry students constructed this 16' by 20' plywood house from scratch.
Ulrick Usher, Carpentry Instructor
"That was to assist a family from Punta Gorda who had some difficulties and had to relocate to Belize City. It's a complete house. We had it wired and it has passed wireman's test for Belize Electricity Limited and we have also plumbed it with a basin, a toilet, and shower stall."
Carpentry students built while their colleagues in automotive were breaking down a car into parts. Parts like the engine which Dwayne King, who is only 15, says he has already mastered
Dwayne Edward King, Automotive Student
"You have to diagnose the problems them and fix them."
Keith Swift,
So you think you know how to fix a car?
Dwayne King,
"Yes sir."
There are the other parts of the car.
Alrick Cattouse, Automotive Student
"The importance of the brake system is to make sure you don't get into accidents and also it is to slow down your vehicle and not to damage it. Belizeans today usually they just run the brakes until the shoe goes to the sole."
Keith Swift,
Since you are like a brake expert now, what you would tell people at home?
Alrick Cattouse,
"Well I would advise them to check your brake shoes often and also to make sure that there is no air in the master cylinder so you have to bleed your brakes; check it and bleed it."
While fixing is one thing, in the Welding Department creativity and ingenuity were at work.
They of course made the usual basketball rims and barbecue grills but here's something you probably haven't seen. Lesmore Barker showed us his "pimped out" and theft proof beach-cruiser.
Lesmore Barker, Welding Student
"Remember this thing which used to be here for the beach cruiser? We threw it away so we don't use that no more, we use this. We put it in a clamp, heat it with that machine right there, and then you twist it; its easy."
Keith Swift,
How sturdy is this?
Lesmore Barker,
"Really strong, real real strong."
Keith Swift,
What made you come up with this?
Lesmore Barker,
"Well because they can't thief your bike right and plus if they thief your bike you just take a picture of it and take it to police station and you will get it back easy."
And of course, a CET Open Day is not a CET Open Day until you eat.
The buffet lunch came courtesy Anthony Sanchez and his 19 hospitality and catering students. Sanchez said the focus this year was on hospitality's importance in tourism. The students focused on the food. Students like BDF Lance Corporal Shawn Belgrove.
Shawn Belgrove, Hospitality Student
"I have a husband who loves lasagna but because of the expense I don't like to do it. Now I learned it a different way so I believe after this I'll go home and I'll do it for him. I am not a cook, I work with the pay section but my love for catering brings me here and later on I might open my own business."
Cecil Augustine, Hospitality Student
"I consider myself a chef and I think, I don't think I know, I could do majority of the things that these chefs do out there."
But more than just learning how to cook or how an engine works, these students will leave CET with practical skills which they can use in the real world.
Gerald Bainton, Carpentry Student
"With what I learnt, I am going back to my field, engineering field in the army, and from time to time we do little buildings and stuff like that so I will put my little knowledge and thing like that in the field."
Phillip Cain, Automotive Student
"I could do brakes. I could take down and fix an engine. I could do transmission. I basically could everything. I don't have to go to craft level right now because I already know lot of what I dad teach me so I already got a basic skill of everything; I could do everything by myself on my vehicle. I want to further myself as a mechanic and make my own business and thing."
Alfonso Garcia, Plumbing Student
"I mostly could fix things in the bathroom and thing like the pipes which are broken. I will use it to fix my own bathroom and thing."
Carla McKesey, Hospitality Student
"I'm going to take my talent to other hotels and serve the guests with professional service that they deserve and which I now know how to do."
Dwayne King,
"I have taken a trade to better my future. I am going to now find a job and work and mine my mom and pa when they get old."
Keith Swift,
Being a female, why did you choose to be in the welding program?
Tanya Lopez, Welding Student
"Because I wanted to have a skill, I wanted to do welding. I wanted to be welder. In a couple of years I'll be able to start my own welding business."
Keith Swift,
You might be Belize's first female welder.
Tanya Lopez,
"Well there's a first for everything."
And CET's Manager Kenroy Ellis says the institution's main purpose is to give students like Tanya a head start towards their goal.
Kenroy Ellis, CET's Manager
"This is just the beginning. Its only a 9 month program and one month of job training so they are just at that first level and we of course encourage them to go on to other levels and become more certified in their area of specialty. But they are by no means and they are no means masters in their areas of specialization."
On Monday the students begin one month of on the job training. They will graduate in June. Students will then have the option to enroll in a 2 year diploma course.
