By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

krystal@nasguard.com

The Grand Bahama Shipyard introduced eight new students to its apprenticeship program with an orientation session yesterday.

Director of Workforce Development Joseph Darville explained that the program is a very competitive one and the six males and two females were chosen from over 100 applicants.

"Seventy-six persons took our placement qualifying exams and 33 of them were interviewed in the final stage of being selected," Darville said.

For the first year of the four-year program, apprentices are trained in both theory and practical elements, both at the company site and at The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute.

"They will learn the five major trades that they would be exposed to during that year, which are pipe fitting, welding, electrical installation, mechanical installation and fabrication," explained Don Forbes, production control assistant manager. "They have other classes like workplace communication and drafting that they will take at BTVI, which will enhance their training."

The next three years of their training, Forbes continued, will be at the Shipyard, where they will be placed in a specific department to fine-tune their skills.

"At the end of the program we expect for them to come out and be full fledged employees," he said.

During yesterday's session, the ap-prentices were briefed on the company's history, the program requirements, safety measures and benefits. They also toured the facility.

Noting that students in the apprenticeship program have also been trained in the company's quality assurance and estimation departments, Darville said the apprentices will eventually begin to replace many of the expatriates who are employed at that site out of necessity.

"We have a tremendously high expectation of these young people," Darville said. "They have been chosen on the basis of attitude, accomplishment at the high school level, their own demonstration of what they have done during high school and immediately after high school, so we know we have the cream of the crop and they're not opting for the trade simply because there's nothing else to get into."

One of the apprentices, 17-year-old O'Keffen Cooper, a former student of St. Georges High School, said he was always interested in the technical fields such as welding.

He experienced feelings of accomplishment, he said, upon learning that he had been selected for the program.

"I felt like I was a great achiever, being one of the few who were picked out of many who applied for the Shipyard," he said. "I seek to achieve learning more trades such as electrical and ship repair and fabrication and other trades the Shipyard has to offer."

Twenty-year-old Lashan Hepburn said although she has worked at a few places since leaving high school, she never lost sight of her goal to be employed at the Grand Bahama Shipyard.

"Through being persistent, I ended up finally getting inside here, which I always wanted to do," she said.

Although she is especially interested in welding and fabricating, Hepburn said she is eager to learn every aspect of work at the facility.

"Everything they have to offer me I want to learn," she said.

To other young persons who may have experienced setbacks in the journey to their goals, Hepburn offered this advice: "Just be persistent. If you keep trying, eventually you will get it."