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Year of Birth: 1979 For the past three years I have been working in
the construction industry. I recently completed my
second year of carpentry training at BCIT. I am
working as a carpenters apprentice with Hillside
Development in Vancouver, BC. I have been fortunate
to work on prestigious residences in France,
Sidney, BC and Vancouver. Along the way I worked in
a custom cabinet factory in Vancouver. My experience includes framing, formwork, stair
construction, scaffold assembly, lumber and
concrete estimating, use and maintenance of
standard power tools and other required skills of
the trade. I grew up in Sidney, BC and graduated with a
major in Art at Parkland High School in 1997. In my
teens my main interests were Art, Skateboarding,
Snowboarding, Rugby, Karate and Guitar playing. I
worked at several part time jobs (mainly in
restaurants) while in high school and for a year
after graduating. In 1998 I traveled to Australia
where I learned to scuba dive and surf. After a
short return trip home, I spent a year traveling in
Europe where I supported myself by working as a
cook in a London restaurant and as a carpenter's
helper in France. In the French Alps I worked with
a a very experienced Irish carpenter who was hired
to oversee the renovation of a celebrity's ski
chalet. He instilled in me an appreciation of
carpentry as an art form. In December 2000, I decided that carpentry was
the career path I would pursue and returned home to
Sidney where I was immediately hired as a
carpenter's helper with Ocean View Construction. I
soon realized that I needed to take more training
and get into an apprenticeship program in order to
become a journeyman carpenter. I enrolled in the
British Columbia Institute of Technology, Entry
Level Trades Carpentry Training program in the
Spring of 2001. After graduating at the top of my
class in October 2001, I was hired by my current
employer Hillside Development as an apprentice. At Hillside Development I have been working on
an estate that has been under construction for six
years. The site imposes architectural, engineering
and construction challenges on a level that few
residential builders ever experience. Having worked
on the site for a year, I know that the experiences
I gain from this job will give me an excellent
foundation for my future in the construction
industry. For recreation I prefer
outdoor activities like snowboarding, rock
climbing, mountain biking, scuba diving, surfing
and running. I also enjoy martial arts, playing the
guitar, drawing, and reading. In the past I was co-founder and chairman of the
of the S.W.A.T. Society, a youth organization that
was formed to represent the youth of Sidney on the
Town Council. S.W.A.T. spearheaded fundraising
amounting to over $30,000 to build a Skate-Park in
Sidney. I volunteered time and labour to help
design and construct the Skate-Park over a three
year period. I also co-founded a band R.P.A. that
created original songs, performed at concerts, fund
raising events and recorded a CD that received air
play on local radio stations. In Vancouver I have
been volunteering time to Homes for Humanity, an
organization dedicated to building affordable
housing for low income families. Over the years I have realized how lucky I am to
have grown up in a small, close knit community like
Sidney. Through the urgings of my family, teachers
and friends I have explored things that I was
curious about and done things I felt strongly
about. Through their comments and feed back I feel
very good about my lifestyle choices and my career
path. For a printable version of this page
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Derrick
Newman