We are proud to announce that our ER student, Nicole, officially completed her job placement today with Martin’s Craft Shop!
Nicole spent the last 4-weeks with business owner, Marion, at her shop located on Third Line in Six Nations. Martin’s Craft Shop offers handmade custom moccasins, pre-made moccasin kits with all the materials to be able to handcraft your own moccasins through Marion’s tutorials as well as other crafts such as beaded Every Child Matters pins. During Nicole’s time with Marion, they received an order for 70 moccasin kits to be distributed at Six Nations Polytechnic and Emily C. General. Marion notes that this was a crucial time for Nicole to be alongside her to offer her an extra set of hands in getting this project completed. Nicole was able to assist in putting together the kits by cutting out the leather and soles, punching holes into the leather, measuring leather for the fringe and gathering the sinew.
When asked what her favourite task was, Nicole said “I love cutting the moccasins out. I love doing this kind of stuff compared to sitting in an office all day.” The basis around the Employment Readiness program is for students to be introduced to an array of things to narrow down what they would like to pursue as a career once they graduate. This program also offers various workshops to provide the students an opportunity to gain a new skill, become certified in things such as First Aid/CPR and Safe Food Handling along with the hopes of gaining confidence to enter the workforce.
“Since this program, I do feel more confident with finding a job, all I need now is help on creating a resume.”
In reflection to Nicole, Marion says
“that’s one thing about her, she never ever said “I’m not going to do that” or “I had enough of this” or just grabbed it, put it away and just sat there. She’s done a really awesome job.”
Both Nicole and Marion recommend the Employment Readiness program as both a student and employer perspective. Marion wishes that this was something that could have been offered when she was 60-70 years old, as she just recently turned 80. “It would’ve been awesome having a student placement when I was that age as they would’ve been able to learn a ton more crafts. I’m at a place in my business now where I am extremely busy with moccasins, but it’s been great having Nicole.”
OSTTC is extremely proud of Nicole and will continue to offer resources and support as she works towards securing employment. OSTTC would also like to say nya:weh to Marion of Martin’s Craft Shop for opening her business doors to our student placement!
