Attitude is everything for mature SIAST student
- Submitted | June 09, 2014
"It's never too late to go back to school."
Darcy Fontaine
Carpentry apprenticeship
Hometown: Bear Creek, SK
Darcy Fontaine had children who were the age of the average SIAST student, but that didn't stop this Northerner from heading back to school to become a carpenter.
"Ultimately, I wanted to better myself," says Fontaine, who now has finished his second level toward becoming a journeyperson carpenter. "It feels good to be back in school. And my kids are real proud of me."
He's a person who believes in trying hard and practising often. It's paid off in many ways, including his ability to exclusively use right-handed tools, even though he's a south paw.
Far removed from elementary school, Fontaine still benefits from the advice of his grade 8 teacher: "Always stand back and look at what you've built."
He feels those words help give him perspective and line up well with two rules he lives by:
1. Never judge: "You never know what someone else has been through."
2. Attitude is everything: "I try to take a good attitude everywhere I go."
Fontaine is 27 years drug-free and 17 years alcohol-free. According to a former employer, "He is a role model for Aboriginal youth on the work site. He teaches them to be professionals."