School wasn’t always an easy place for Tyler Powell (BEd ’23).

But after a teacher helped him to find inspiration in the classroom, he became determined to help high school students do the same.

“Academics was not my thing,” says Powell, who graduated from Brock’s Technological Education Teacher Education program with a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree on Thursday, June 15. “I would lie awake at night thinking about what I was going to do with my life and not feeling smart enough to do anything.”

Things changed when he started taking high school technological education courses. While most of his friends were focused on going to university, Powell’s technological education teacher inspired him to pursue a career in the skilled trades.

The 35-year-old husband and father of two spent 14 years working as a welder and metal fabricator, where he also supervised several co-operative education students. While he found the work fulfilling, becoming a teacher was always in the back of his mind because of his own teachers and experiences.

In 2021, a shortage of technological education teachers in Ontario created an opportunity for him to teach manufacturing in his local school board. He’d already applied to Brock and in January 2022 he found himself balancing family, work and his own education.

As a teacher, he aims to help every student reach their full potential by creating a supportive environment that gives students a sense of responsibility.

Joe Fowler (left) and Tyler Powell graduated from Brock’s Technological Education Teacher Education program on Thursday, June 15.

“As long as you try your best, you’ll be successful,” he says. “We  understand mistakes are made and emphasize that you’ve got to make mistakes to learn.”

Hundreds of kilometres away, Joe Fowler (BEd ’23) was about to embark on a similar journey.

The Red Seal machinist received his Brock acceptance letter the same week he was offered a job to teach technological education in his local school board.

“All in one week I was quitting my job, starting up something new and getting accepted to university,” says Fowler, who graduated with a BEd from Brock’s Technological Education Teacher Education program on Thursday, June 15. “Which also meant my wife was going back to work for the first time in six years after being at home with the kids.”

Fowler, 35, had been working in the field for six years before starting the Brock program in January 2022.

He’d considered becoming an English teacher in high school but was also drawn to the skilled trades after taking technological education courses.

“I tried a few different paths after high school, but none fit,” he says.

After a few false starts, including a stint working as a video store clerk and a semester in a mechanical engineering college program, Fowler began working at an export crating company and eventually met his wife.

When he was laid off just before the birth of the couple’s first child, he was able to complete his machinist training with support from Ontario’s Second Career program, now known as Better Jobs Ontario.

Like Powell, Fowler found it deeply fulfilling to create something valuable and useful out of raw materials.

But he also found meaning in working with young people through trades education programs run by Big Brothers Big Sisters and high school career coaching programs run by the Halton Industry Education Council.

When his mother passed away of cancer in 2019, he knew it was time to make a change and began to work towards a career as a technological education teacher.

“I had a lot of great experiences with my technological education teachers throughout high school. They helped me see the application of things we are learning in other classes and gave me what felt like a real-world perspective of things,” Fowler says.

One of those teachers is now the head of his department.

Fowler hopes sharing his winding career path will help his students see they have options.

“Every student has the ability to contribute to society going forward, so just keeping that message at the forefront is important,” he says.