Larry La Gamba is good at many things, but one skill that might go unnoticed is his ability to take seemingly unrelated parts of his life and combine them to create unique careers.
Last month, he mixed his decade as a teacher with 16 years in the trades to create the Georgetown Skilled Trades Mentorship Group. La Gamba formed this online community to raise student and parental awareness of, and interest in, working with one’s hands.
“The first thing was to provide a network and mentorship to the youth in the community that are interested in the trades as an option,” he explained.
In the Facebook group, La Gamba - a pool leak specialist - updates members about his webinars, introduces them to vital resources and keeps members up to date about trades-related topics.
He also encourages tradespeople to be mentors and just started posting episodes of his newly-created Skilled Trades Mentorship Podcast on his YouTube channel. Much like his Facebook group, he's letting students and their parents hear what tradespeople have to say.
In the community, he recently did an in-person talk at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Elementary School, where he showed off his tools and helped students think about their career path.
Over his 16-year career, La Gamba brought together a love of aquatics and skills with tools to found his business, Pool Bouy Leak Detection. He often dons SCUBA gear to repair pools for various customers, including the Toronto Zoo.
When asked why he chose to venture into mentorship, the underwater tradesman recounted a few familiar themes.
“I see all the crime that's happening in the area. And not just crime, but youth crime. We're seeing kids who are 13, 14, 16 years old get into some pretty serious stuff,” he said.
La Gamba added that he decided to learn a trade because he wanted to make as much money as possible without accruing student debt. However, his parents were not supportive of this idea.
“I could have been one of those statistics,” he said.
His dealings with his parents created another motive: de-stigmatizing the trades. A report by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum saw drops in new apprentice registrations in all provinces between 2019 and 2020.
Cooks, welders and heavy-duty technicians saw declines as high as 40 per cent. Program completions also took hits across all Red Seal trades. These are occupations that require individuals to take the Red Seal exam, thus showing they met national standards.
A different survey by 3M Canada found that 91 per cent of Canadians say the workforce needs more tradespeople. However, 68 per cent also said that they would not pursue a career as one.
“Working with your hands is always considered second class,” La Gamba told HaltonHillsToday. “One person’s parents think that skilled trades are looked down upon - they’re going to continue to feed into that stigma. It’s not going to stop until somebody steps in and breaks that cycle.”
Anyone interested in getting vocation mentorship can join the Georgetown Skilled Trades Mentorship Group Facebook page.