A student from Geraldton Composite High School in northern Ontario has finished Grade 12 with a larger-than-life accomplishment: welding a 10-foot-tall steel moose sculpture.
Addica MacIver-Chapais worked on the passion project for almost 300 hours over nearly a month with her shop teacher, Terry Burke, who she credits for finding the design online.
“It was just a really big process and it took quite awhile, but with the help of my shop teacher, I got it done,” said MacIver-Chapais in an interview with CBC’s Up North.
For its part, Composite High School also wrote about MacIver-Chapais’s accomplishment on Facebook, saying: “The moose is on the loose! Well, not really, but it is complete! Addica worked hard this past week to finish up this beast of a project.”
This is not the first welding achievement for MacIver-Chapais.
She also finished second, alongside her classsmates, Raegan Towegishig and Rachelle Marszowski, at a Canadian Welding Bureau Foundation competition last fall for their work on two benches that were given to the Fisher Court Retirement Home and Royal Canadian Legion Robert Frost Branch 133.
MacIver-Chapais said she was initially inspired to take up welding by an ironworker who discussed the subject at her school in Grade 7, but only decided to truly pursue it in high school with the support of those around her.
“A lot of people give me really good motivation to continue doing what I want to do and it really pushes me forward to continue doing what I am doing instead of doubting myself,” said MacIver-Chapais.
An act of encouragement, she said, she similarly wants to spread to others so they continue to do what they love.
“I just hope that if someone who is doubting [themselves] or have doubts about doing stuff like that, that they’re able to be like, ‘Wow, if someone like that can do that, then I can, too.'”
Developing a passion into a career
However, beyond building it, she added it was most exciting to hear what people said after seeing it.
“So many people loved it and they gave me such good, kind reviews, and it was really great,” said MacIver-Chapais. “Building it, I don’t really see it to be really cool, but other people are like, ‘Wow, this is amazing.'”
She said having the sculpture on her portfolio will also be helpful with her future goal of entering the trades because it shows she is “able to do more than the basics of welding.”
“I’m hoping to go back to school — like the same school I am going to — for another semester or two to upgrade my math and English,” said MacIver-Chapais. “Then, hopefully I’m looking for an apprenticeship.”
For now, she is working with her shop teacher on putting the sculpture on display somewhere in the community.
“I’m hoping to keep it in my town because I would like it to be shown to people [over time],” said MacIver-Chapais, sharing her vision for the project and the excitement of her art’s potential impact.