33 Issue 4 Winter Edition 2017 UPWORD BUILDING HER STORY SERIES: SVETLANA KOLESNIKOVA Upon her arrival in the country, she went to the apprenticeship office to see about obtaining her tower crane operator designation. “They said, ‘You? For tower crane operator?’ And I said, ‘Yes, me.’ But after I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m first here!’” Kolesnikova recalls. Registering for the exam was the easy part. According to Kolesnikova, a new country, a different language and variations in the trade made earning her ticket that much more difficult. “I did my exam seven times,” Kolesnikova confides. “And I didn’t give up. After one time when I didn’t pass, I said, ‘It’s okay,’ because it’s (the) first time.” Then the second. And third. And then the fourth exam. And where most would throw in the towel and try their hand at something different, Kolesnikova persevered. “I won’t give up, I will do it,” she tells me emphatically. Kolesnikova decided to take a year break from the books to rest and relax. “After one year, I started to prepare again,” she explains.“I understood that I needed time because I’m an immigrant. Because it’s a different country; different language; technical language; different rules in tower crane operation from Russia to here.” Kolesnikova used a translator to write the exam initially, but since the technical language wasn’t translating properly, she opted to write the exam on her own following the fourth attempt. Jordan James, Program Coordinator at the Operating Engineers Training Institute of Manitoba, committed to working with Kolesnikova as long as it took. “I helped her study some of the terminology, some of the English words in the work that she already knew how to do,” explained James. “I helped her prepare for the exam and helped go over her results when she was less than successful.” Along with James, Kolesnikova credits Apprenticeship Manitoba’s Guy Prefontaine for supporting her as she challenged the exam. “He said, ‘Svetlana – no stress, it’s okay, you’re strong. Don’t give up.’ He supported me. He [is a] good man. [Such a] good man! He gave me lots of information. He explained for me [my] mistakes.” After Kolesnikova took the tower crane operator exam for the seventh time, Prefontaine called her and asked her to come to the Apprenticeship Manitoba office. Kolesnikova was confused, since they usually send exam results in the mail. “It made me worry,” she admits.“I got in my car, and I don’t remember how I got (to the office).” Prefontaine had assembled the team from Apprenticeship Manitoba to witness Kolesnikova’s reaction to receiving her Tower Crane Operator Red Seal Certified designation after years of heartache and relentless dedication. “I was waiting for this day. How will I feel, what will I think when I pass it?” Svetlana stops speaking to gather her emotions as she recalls the memorable moment. “[Prefontaine] hugged me and said, ‘Svetlana, Svetlana, my friend, you did it!’” Since earning her ticket in the spring, Kolesnikova has joined the Operating Engineers of Manitoba Local 987, and found employment first with Bockstael Construction Limited on a luxury condominium project at 390 Assiniboine and now up in northern Manitoba at the Keeyask Project. “We are a labour brokerage house, basically, so when she’s done this job, we have contacts with all our contractors out there,” Marc Lafond, OE987’s Business Manager, says, explaining that this job will “dovetail into the next job, and the job after that.” For Kolesnikova’s part, she’s not only happy to be employed, she’s happy to be home. “When I sit in my tower crane, oh my gosh, it feels so good! It’s like home,” Kolesnikova says of being back in her office 26 storeys high in the sky. And the high expectations she’s always had for herself? The punctual and reliable tower crane operator practices, prepares and reads as much as she can, whether it be on a tower crane, on a zoom boom or on her English every chance she gets. “I want to be ready,” she states. “I’m crazy responsible.” Morning view of the Keeyask Generating Station Project from a tower crane Tower crane view of Winnipeg fog