July 25, 2018 – Tyler Kula, The Sarnia Observer
For Austin Robinson, being a lighting and sound technician is more than a summer job.
“It’s something I’m definitely going to carry on with,” said the 16-year-old Sarnia youngster.
He’s one of six Sarnia-Lambton youth participating in the Summer Company Program, a joint initiative between the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership (SLEP) and the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade that fits 15-29-year-olds with funding and knowhow to test their entrepreneurial ideas.
But Robinson, a Northern Collegiate student going into Grade 12 this fall, has been hooking up speakers, microphones, and setting up livestreaming for a few years already – helping out with the technical side of weddings, receptions, and Remembrance Day events in Sarnia, he said.
He did the work previously under the unofficial Soundsync DJ moniker before making Robinson Multimedia – robinsonmultimedia.ca – official in January.
“Then I found out about this program,” through a friend, he said, who’s also taking part in the Summer Company Program.
Robinson, who’s helped out Morrison Multimedia at some bigger events in Petrolia, said the job is more than just pushing the right buttons on a sound board.
Everything needs to be planned out for setup, including taking into account how heat and humidity affect how sound travels, he said.
“Yes, once you know what all the buttons do it’s easy to use those buttons; but it’s what goes behind them, it’s the training,” he said.
He’s used $1,500 in grant money through the company program to purchase equipment, he said.
Participants are eligible for another $1,500 when the program wraps up at the end of August, provided they invest 280 hours into the company over the two-month summer for high-schoolers, said Storm Astolfi, entrepreneurship coach with SLEP.
He was leading a group seminar on taxation Wednesday with the program participants. Other companies this year include a beehive business, 3D printing company, and produce and concession stands.
“We are educating them along the way, showing them the steps to be successful with it as well,” Astolfi said.
The program has run for 19 years, and is also a way to help foster business across Lambton County, said Stephen Thompson, CEO of SLEP, in a news release.
“With the goal of making the Sarnia-Lambton area recognized as an excellent place to live and work, these students are seeing firsthand the opportunities that are available in Lambton County, and we encourage all students to keep the Summer Company in mind in the future,” he said.
More information on the program is available by calling 519-332-1820.
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