Twenty local youth have recently started a comprehensive carpentry course, which will allow them to obtain an international certification from MIC Institution of Technology. The course materialized through K1 Britannia Foundation’s Second Chance Program in partnership with the National Institute for Professional Advancement (NIPA).

Holland America Line has once again committed to sponsoring educational training opportunities for St. Maarten’s youth and is the course’s founding sponsor. Other major sponsors include the Dutch Disaster Fund that contributed to K1’s Scholarship Fund and Menzies Aviation that is contributing towards materials; safety equipment and other needed resources for the students.

The course is specially held for vulnerable young people of St. Maarten between the ages of 16 and 25, and the aim is to provide the youth with new skills in the area of carpentry. The certification will enable the youth to gain short and long term employment while giving St. Maarten’s construction industry confident, skilled workers.

The students will learn technical skills such as how to draw and interpret simple drawings, blueprint reading, laying out a building on a job site, construct framework, as well as non-technical skills such as applied math, science, entrepreneurship and life skills such as conflict resolution. Upon successful completion of the course, the program will provide the opportunity for certification that can translate to employability or entrepreneurship possibilities for the students.