Innovative schooling takes BC teen from building ferry models to steering the real thing

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Ever since Joshua Yeung was five years old and boarded his first ferry, crossing the Strait of Georgia to visit his grandparents, he’s dreamt of working for BC Ferries.

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This month, the 18-year-old, whose fascination with public transportation led him to engineer his own fleet of small-scale models of ferries, worked his first shift as a deckhand on the 167-metre-long Spirit of Vancouver Island.

“It’s been a dream come true,” said Yeung, a Langford resident who was diagnosed with autism at age 15.

“A common misconception is that all deckhands do is help people park their cars and then go get coffee,” the teen said. “However, we do a lot more than that. I even get to steer the ship.”

One of the youngest employees of BC Ferries, his job consists of directing hundreds of passenger vehicles on and off the ferry and performing maintenance and safety tasks including watching the water for potential hazards during sailings between Tsawwassen and Swartz Bay north of Victoria.

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His journey to gainful employment wasn’t an easy one, Yeung admitted.

By the time the teenager reached Grade 10, his parents doubted he would be able to graduate from high school with peers his age.

Shelley Donald, principal of Whytecliff Agile Learning Centre, a BC Education Ministry-accredited private high school in Langley, said Yeung came from a public school with modified course credits for an “Evergreen” graduation certificate, available to students with a special needs designation.

“In order to graduate with a high school diploma, Josh had to re-do all of his Grade 10 courses.”

For Whytecliff teachers, including Donald who teaches math, the challenge is how to renew a student’s belief in their own abilities.

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“A lot of the kids that come here have had really bad experiences in the public school system, and because of that, they start to hate learning,” Donald said. “In order to captivate Josh, we worked BC Ferries into almost every subject we could.”

While Yeung spent hours in the classroom building his fleet of ferries from scratch, using household items including cardboard, toothpicks and straws, Donald would measure the models for mathematical accuracy.

“He was able to learn the concept of scale, proportion, degree of error and other curricula through constructing the models.”

The skills-based learning approach was an instant success.

“Josh would go above and beyond what is expected in a normal classroom assignment because he was so focused on the topic of public transportation,” Donald said. “I had no doubt he would become a deckhand. Sometimes, it was all he could talk about.”

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Along with his work ethic, Yeung’s exceptional cognitive abilities allowed him to replicate some ferry details for his models from memory.

Upon graduating last year, one of the first things the teen did was to apply for an entry-level job at BC Ferries. After completing the required skills training, Yeung was called to work his first shift on April 18.

“I’m so glad I never gave up,” he said. “I would encourage others to do the same, to push through when things get hard or frustrating. For me, that was test anxiety.”

Two of the young employee’s BC Ferries replicas are on display in the staff quarters of the Spirit of Vancouver Island, the ship on which he works. Another is back at Whytecliff, with some of his former teachers and classmates of him.

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“When new kids come into our program they see the ferry and ask: ‘Who did that?’ We tell them the story of Josh,” said Donald. “They say: ‘Look what he can do! He was also on the spectrum. If he can, so can he I’.”

Now, the ambitious 18-year-old has his eyes set on becoming the captain of a BC Ferries vessel and carrying passengers safely through the narrow Active Pass through the Gulf Islands.

“Every time I put on my uniform, my steel-toed boots, my hat and jacket, I smile,” Yeung said. “It’s such a good feeling.”

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