There's a new leader at the helm of the region's student vocational learning program.

After fulfilling the role of Director for the Red River Technical Vocational Area (RRTVA) on an interim basis over the last six months, former Program Service Coordinator, Lane Curry, has officially been named to the position. He says he is excited about the opportunity and to build on the successes of his predecessors - Brenda Giesbrecht and Harv Giesbrecht.

"The dust has settled a bit here in the last five years. There's been some programs start and some that have gone by the wayside, so we're trying to just keep things stable moving forward. I'm getting to reap the benefits of the foundation they've laid and will try to keep the ship going in the same direction," said Curry.

Looking ahead, Curry hopes to continue promoting the many programs within the RRTVA and educating students on the various vocational career training opportunities that are available to them. Events like annual day tours and trades camps have helped raise awareness of the program among the region's grade 8 students in the past, but Curry says those strategies might look a bit different in the future considering public health restrictions related to COVID-19.

"I'm not sure what social distancing will mean so now I'm trying to think of new ways to do this. We have learned lots of new virtual ways to meet and do things with people, but it's not the same as seeing the shop in action but we'll do what we can," he noted.

And that's not all that remains unknown as education officials look to re-start in-class learning for the new school year which gets underway in September.

Curry says he isn't sure what the new model for classroom learning will look like for the RRTVA, but suggests the program's unique cohort structure would lend itself well to any future considerations. He explains when students from multiple school divisions across the region choose to do a vocational program, they travel to the school that houses that particular program and spends all day, every day at that location for an entire semester, fully immersing themselves in the dedicated learning.

While this model has served the RRTVA well over the years, Curry noted when classroom learning was suspended in March each student lost five hours of learning each day. As a result, he says there will be some recovery learning and gap training required when and if students return to school in the fall.