As a teacher with the Ontario’s Windsor Essex Catholic District School Board, McAiney pioneered the Construction Academy program, where students complete their high school diploma and receive a Level 1 apprenticeship in one of four construction trades. The former carpenter has taken a high school technology program and elevated it to a trade school status involving partnerships with unions, industry and government. It’s now a model other schools in the province are emulating and garnered McAiney and an award from the prime minister.