This page was exported from Caledon Citizen [ https://caledoncitizen.com ] Export date:Wed Sep 2 13:09:24 2026 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: Humberview secondary school unveils new Husky statue --------------------------------------------------- By Riley Murphy Local Journalism Initiative Reporter Humberview Secondary School has unveiled the newest addition to their school grounds: a Husky statue. The statue was fit and welded by the students themselves, sent off for painting at BMP Metals this summer, and now stands tall and ready at the front of the school. Last year, the students had the pieces of the statue laser cut, then fit and pieced together the statue. Two students really took the lead on the statue: Emilie Roberts and Ben Hedley. Roberts shared that at the beginning of last year's semester, she was approached and asked if she wanted to be a part of a bigger project. From there, she was tasked with organizing the pieces and bending each piece to fit perfectly with the others. There were 116 pieces in total. “I spent a lot of time, fourth and third period, every single day, in the metal shop, working on it until it was done. And then I put all the pieces together, did some welding on it, and then it was done,” said Roberts. Teachers at Humberview estimated that the pair spent more than 200 educational hours on the project, along with help from other students who pitched in from time to time. Hedley shared that Roberts did a majority of the fitting and tacking, while he was able to do a lot of the solid welding. “A lot of hours went towards it, I'm happy it looks good,” said Hedley. Roberts said the statue represents not only the work that they did, but “the work all the teachers have put into us to make sure that we're able to do the things that we can do.” “[It] gives a great break from all the stresses of school, being able to come into a tech class and just work on something so beautiful,” said Roberts. At the unveiling, Mayor Annette Groves spoke to the importance of keeping trades and shop alive in schools. “Trades are very, very important because these are the people who build our schools. They build our roads, they build our parks, they do so much to contribute to the community,” she said. Hedley and Roberts shared the impact that this type of program has had on them. “I think that played a really big part in what I'm doing now. I went through this project, and I went to pursue that career. Bringing trades and shop programs into schools is a really good thing, because then you get more people into the trades and more people that are actually interested in doing it,” said Hedley. “I took my first shop class in Grade 10, and I was so scared I was going to hit myself with a hammer,” laughed Roberts. “I did not know what I was doing, and my mom and my uncles really encouraged me to just do it, see how it went. I found out that I really liked it. I had lots of fun doing it, so I took it again in Grade 11 and it just encouraged me to keep going.” “Mr. Ziskos always told me that I could do it, and so I believed that I could and now this is a project of what happens when a teacher believes in you,” she says. Chris Ziskos, a Manufacturing Teacher, along with David Hilgendorff, Design and Robotics Teacher, are both lead teachers for the new DREAM SHSM program. SHSM is a Specialist High Skills Major; the DREAM program stands for Design, Robotics, Engineering, and Advanced Manufacturing. They both lead the robotics and electric vehicle team at Humberview. The teachers shared that this project is an extension of the current “I heart HV” sign that currently stands at the front of the school.  They wanted something to represent their school's mascot. Ziskos shared that the first sign was also very student-led and a “legacy” project, something this statue replicates. “When they're 30 years old and they're driving by the school, they'll see this stuff out here, and they'll remember that, and hopefully it inspires them to do something related to the fields that we're doing, or just get some exposure to a field that they may not have seen otherwise.” Hilgendorff says that Humberview prides itself very much on its amazing technical capabilities. “A lot of capabilities that normal high schools wouldn't have, and that's where we really like the model for the new Dream SHSM program, which is essentially Dream It, Build It. We like to pride ourselves on the fact that if a student can dream up an idea, that we can make it a reality here,” he says. “Any sort of real idea, the only way you bring it to life is through tradespeople,” said Ziskos. He shared that it's one of the greatest things to see the results of your hard work almost instantly. “It's the skilled trades people that actually build this country and so having these programs integrated into our high school is helping with all of that to promote skilled trades and help build the country,” said Hilgendorff. “If other schools don't have these programs, then the students really can't get hands on and really explore whether this might be something for them.” “That's what we hope to accomplish, inspire them so that they really feel like this is a valuable career path for them,” said Ziskos.  This project was also made possible through a grant received with the support of the Peel District School Board's Community Connected Experiential Learning program, as well as BMP Metals. BMP Metals volunteered to prime and paint the statue for the students. Gord Nicholls, Technical Support Manager at BMP Metals, said BMP has been involved in high school co-op placement and programs for over 20 years, which has allowed them to identify what students often need help with. BMP, he said, has such a large manufacturing facility that they want to share it with the community. Nicholls said when the statue was first brought over, everyone was in awe. “Managers, owners could not believe that students put this together and made all this welding and created such a beautiful piece of art to represent their mascot. It's incredible.” Pedro Garcia, who has been with BMP for over 30 years, said that seeing the look on the kids' faces made it worth it. “It's a whole bunch of kids that we actually have the opportunity to go see when they're doing their projects and everything and they're so happy when they see the results at the end. It's part of their effort, their work, it's very good.” They added they hope the statue will last for a very long time. --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2025-09-18 11:49:59 Post date GMT: 2025-09-18 15:49:59 Post modified date: 2025-09-25 11:29:05 Post modified date GMT: 2025-09-25 15:29:05 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com