On March 24th, Town Council passed a motion to provide the Northern Lights School Division with land to conduct a service rig training course. Mayor of Bonnyville Gene Sobolewski says it was “an easy decision for the town” and council will be working with a local land developer to find where land is available to offer it up to the school division to use in the course. Sobolewski says the town is “100% behind it (the program) and believe its going to be a fantastic asset”.
The high school level Service Rig Training course is the first of its kind for Alberta, and all of Canada. Mayor Sobolewski says a lot of credit has to be given to Ruth Isley, whom the mayor notes has “a lot of tenacity” and “has been working really hard” to bring this program to Bonnyville.
Islay, worked with the school division and thanks in part to a donated rig from Ensign and a grant from the Provincial Government; students at Bonnyville Centralized High School will be the first in Alberta to participate in a service rig training course on an operating rig.
Northern Lights School Division hopes the Drilling Rig will be ready for students in Fall 2015 to train on, the program will host 30 students a term.
**correction- in an earlier version of this story the rig was described as a “drilling rig” and it is in fact a “service rig”***