01-32_GENERALS_SUMMER25_PT - Flipbook - Page 19
When he tried plumbing, everything
seemed to click.
“I really fell in love with it. The second I
started doing it, I thought: ‘Hey, I'm good
at this and I enjoy it, why don't I try to
pursue it?’
“You do not have to go to college
or university to make proper money,”
Shaikh added. “People need to tell kids
that you can make good money doing
honest, proper trade work -- and meet
such nice people.”
Shaikh’s co-op placement was at PCL’s
Limberlost Place project, a 10-storey mass
timber, low-carbon building being built
for George Brown College.
“You could tell he was excited to be
here,” PCL Superintendent Sonny Mercer
recalled. “This is where he wanted to be.
He had all kinds of enthusiasm.”
Mercer says Shaikh stood out. He was
eager to learn and tried his hand at many
different skills.
It paid off. After graduating the STEP
program, Shaikh was hired by PCL trade
partner Black & MacDonald as a first-year
plumbing apprentice.
THEGENERALS.NET
“Luqman is a model student of the
program,” says Elvy Moro, a teacher with
the Toronto District School Board who
has been leading the STEP to Construction
since its inception. “Students didn’t find
success, a lot of them, in elementary and
secondary because they were put in an
environment that doesn't fit who they are.
So once a student finds that pathway that
excites them, all of a sudden, everything
is moving in their favor. The light bulb
goes on.
“For me, as a teacher, to hear a student
say that it's been life-changing … how do
you put a price on that?”
Growing the Skilled Workforce
Currently, the program accepts 88 students a year from more than 200 applications. About 30 different builders and
general contractors have signed on to
offer co-op positions.
Moro wants to see more school boards
offer the STEP to Construction program
and encourages more construction companies to participate.
“Anyone I speak to, from trades to
STEP to Construction was able to place a student at
PCL’s Limberlost Place project in Toronto
Luqman Shaikh, 18, was
immediately drawn to the
plumbing trade during his
co-op semester with STEP to
Construction.)
SUMMER 2025 • the generals 19
