Bruce Wirzba

The 2011 Southeast Alberta Regional Skills Competition, which was held on Thursday at Medicine Hat College was a smashing success, said project manager Sue Feeney.

Twelve students will represent the Southeast region at the Provincial Skills Canada Alberta Competition, which will be held in Edmonton on May 11-12.

Curtis Prins and Levi Sergeant from Medicine Hat High won gold and will represent the region in the Automotive Service category.

Matthew Bates and Jocelyn Nielsen from Brooks Composite High won gold and silver in the Cabinet Making competition, and will be representing the region.

Chad Furet from Brooks Composite High won gold and Tyler Siwy from Crescent Heights won silver in the Carpentry competition. Both winners will be travelling to provincials.

Darylyn Walters from Hat High won gold in the Junior Hairstyling contest, while Shirley Lai from Brooks Composite High won gold in the Intermediate Hair-styling event. The two students will showcase their talents at the Edmonton competition.

Shawn Norris and Ryan Kennedy from McCoy High won gold and will represent the Southeast region in the TV and Video Production category.

Jordan Bitz from Hat High won gold and Colby Stonham from Crescent Heights won silver in the Welding category of the skills competition, and both students will be going to Provincials.

Information about the competition can be found at skillsalberta.com

© 2011 Medicine Hat News. All rights reserved.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

Magic Behind The Camera

In an age where everyone who has a cellphone has a video camera, and a 15-second clip can get a million hits on YouTube, who isn't a successful videographer these days?

Then again, everybody's got at least a hammer in their house, but how many are employable as a carpenter?

The Southern Alberta Regional Job Skills Competition will hope to draw the distinction between hobby and industry when the annual trades showcase takes place on Thursday at venues at Medicine Hat College and Hat High.

The competition, which aims to highlight both aspiring tradesmen and women in the community and the trades themselves to high school students, should be a whirlwind of activity.

Chefs will pan-sear salmon, welders will grind out beads, carpenters will mark out cuts, cabinet makers will form dadoes and rabbets, mechanics will sniff out and correct problems and stylists will cut and primp their clients' hair.

The groups of TV/Video producers from the region's high schools will be right there, cameras in hand to chronicle the competition.

"We're going to do a promotional video for the event," said Ryan Kennedy, a Grade 12 student at Monsignor McCoy High School. He is competing in his second competition with partner Shawn Norris. The pair placed second last year.

"We've got six hours to shoot it, cut it, edit it."

Kennedy is confident he'll finish well under the time limit, but groups from each of the area's high schools will no doubt chase the clock adding polish to their product.

Kennedy's teacher is quick to say it takes time to produce a video that meets a client's specifications - which is paramount both in Thursday's competition as well as the working world.

"It's a matter of getting ideas organized," said Bernie Kinch, who heads up the program at Monsignor McCoy.

"There's a process that you have to go through from brainstorming, storyboarding, scripting, then gathering the materials that you need, including doing any necessary research," he said.

"Then it's just a matter of developing good organizational skills and executing."

Right now Kennedy and Norris work on promotional videos for the schools - highlight packages for basketball games, reviews of plays as well as stand-up interviews regarding other events.

Those videos go online, and also provided a reel of work for their portfolios.

"Two of our students are in Grade 12 and they want to go to SAIT and this is exactly the type of program that they want to get into," said Kinch.

"It's provided them and opportunity to see what's involved. It's starting to prepare them for future careers. And exposure is the most important thing because the way social media and education is working in general, there are so many opportunities."

Getting in touch with the technical side of production as well as the artistic is also an important facet of the program.

McCoy and other schools offer an introductory and advanced classes in the discipline under a variety of names.

McCoy's lab contains 14 high definition cameras, booms, microphones, a complete editing suites with editing and dubbing software and a switcher panel where a director can switch back and forth between multiple cameras and even different locations.

"It's a television station in a box," marvels Kinch.

© 2011 Medicine Hat News. All rights reserved.

Bryce Wirzba, Sarrah Ferguson - Special to the News

Brooks Composite High School Grade 12 students T.J. Elkin and Ryan Halverson say they have been interested in the automotive trade for "as long as they can remember".

The pair tested their knowledge of auto mechanics on Thursday at Medicine Hat College, in the "Auto Service" section of the Southeast Alberta Regional Skills Competition.

The boys said participating in the "back brakes skills drill," where they assembled and disassembled the back brakes of a large truck is all in a day's work.

"It's (brake assembly) a skill we're used to doing, right now we are rebuilding a Ford F-150 (truck) in our spare time and are starting to reassemble the motor," T.J. said.

"If you like (auto mechanics) stay with it, you get better over time," Ryan says.

"I hope to continue on, and make this my career," he adds.

Local industry experts provide the judging expertise for the competition.

Raymond Shannon, an automotive service technician, has judged the auto services category of the Regional Skills Competition for the past six years and has been teaching at Medicine Hat College for 20 years.

"Many people don't realize how many trades are thriving in Medicine Hat today, or how a job in any trade can open the door to new opportunities," Shannon said.

This year's Skills Competition also featured cabinet making, carpentry, hair-styling, TV and video production and welding, and included a new "culinary arts" category.

The gold medal winners go on to represent the Southeast Region of Alberta at the Provincial Skills Canada Alberta Competition in Edmonton.

For more information visit skillsalberta.com

© 2011 Medicine Hat News. All rights reserved.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

If you're roaming the halls of Medicine Hat High School over the next two weeks you might want to find Jarrett Stevens and wrangle an invite to dinner.

The menu will most likely include pan-seared salmon, steamed asparagus, butternut squash puree and sautéed spinach in a butter sauce. It will be topped off by an apple custard flan with caramel sauce for dessert.

An that's just his homework.

Stevens is one of nine local high school students who will have to prepare that exact feast on April 14 when the Southeast Alberta Regional Skills Competition takes place.

"I've always been in the kitchen, helping out," said Stevens. "The Food Network is a staple in my house."

This week anyway, other staples include baby spinach, Arborio rice, shallots and a host of other ingredients that Stevens and nine other aspiring chefs will use on the competition's menu.

"They have to prepare a few sauces that have a tendency to separate," said instructor Bren Ennis. "It will be challenging."

Student's have only four hours to complete the meal - from prep to presentation - and that means juggling seven items, each with various cooking times, on top of earning marks for professionalism, cleanliness and, of course, taste.

Judges and adjudicators will be drawn from the local restaurant industry.

School instructors will observe and add input to the technical committee, but cannot judge their students.

This marks the first year that culinary arts has been included in the region's vocational competition.

Events in carpentry, cabinetry, auto service, hairstyling, video production, and welding will take place at Medicine Hat College on the same day. Those events will be judged by college instructors and members of their respective industries.

Students who qualify can compete at the provincial level May 11 and 12 in Edmonton. The 17th annual national competition will be held in Quebec City in early June.

"I think it's great, and it will be great for students in the area," said Ennis of holding food science event locally.

Ennis feels that there is still a gap between the local programs and those offered in larger centres and particularly larger schools.

"We do a whole lot of things you can use around the house," he said of his course.

"In Calgary, (culinary arts students) are being prepared to work in restaurants. In some cases, they are doing all the work towards supplying their school's cafeteria."

Don't count out the local fare, however, said Ennis who feels students are now arriving at his foods lab more prepared than ever before.

"They're bringing their own cake pans," he said.

On the local scene, competitors, from schools such as Crescent Heights, Monsignor McCoy, along with students from Brooks, Oyen and Bow Island.

They will compete against each other, in a sense, but mostly against the judges standards.

"I feel (my chances) are pretty decent," said Jeffery Sykes, a senior at Hat High who plans to work in a Vancouver restaurant next year before pursuing a more formal education at SAIT in Calgary.

"I've worked in restaurants for six years now. And we'll be making five or six different dishes.

"I like the passion involved in culinary arts, the creativity that's involved in it."

The Southeast Alberta Regional Skills Competition works to provide recognition and encouragement to students of skilled trades and technologies, according to its mandate.

The event, Thursday, April 14 will include competition, a show and shine, and an awards ceremony at Medicine Hat College. Sponsors include the governments of Canada and Alberta, Medicine Hat College and numerous local businesses.

© 2011 Medicine Hat News. All rights reserved.

amccuaig@medicinehatnews.com

Southeastern Alberta high schools are tooling up for the annual Regional Skills Competition next month which will pit the finest student tradesmen and women against each other.
The competition, sponsored by a regional partnership between five Southeastern Alberta school boards and trade dependent industries through Youth Career Development, will see 13 high schools represented.

"Because we are looking to build our future talent pool, this is a way for us to promote trades within the community and let parents know that trades are just as viable as university programs," said Vivian Haland, Youth Career Development coordinator.

"We are trying to raise the bar on trades."

Matching the needs of industry with providing employment opportunities to students is the goal of Youth Career Development, said Haland. And while opportunities may be less forthcoming lately, the future of the trades will inevitably be bright as positions open up due to an aging population.

"Career awareness is the biggest thing. Making our students aware and our parents aware of the demand and the opportunities that there are in the trades - viable career choices," said Haland.

"Once the economy recovers there are still going be shortages in health and trades - big time."

Haland cites a recent Canadian Chamber of Commerce report stating just that fact, confirming what many in industries are already forecasting.

Sue Feeney, project manager for the Skills Competition, said the event will help highlight both the local talent and those corporations looking to get involved in early recruitment.

"It gives those kids a great opportunity to showcase their talents."

However, the former teacher added that trades are often overlooked as offering a future for youth.

"The push is always university and that comes from mom and dad...really, (the trades) are looked down on but that is changing," said Feely.

And while trades have often focused on automotive, welding, cosmetology and carpentry industries, it hasn't stopped from looking to the future as this and past Skills Competitions have included computer programing and video production.

Feeney said popularity in video production is one of the fastest growing interests for students with all the area's schools looking to place teams in the competition.

Haland added that it's important for businesses to jump on board to encourage building local talent.

"I got the kids, I need the employers for placements," she said.

"(Youth Career Development) is seeking employers who are passionate about helping youth in gaining hands-on experience."

This includes production field operation, health and trades.

The Skills Competition is on April 29 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will include events for the public to promote awareness of the trades.

Starting on Wednesday, the News will be featuring students from area high schools competing in this year's events.
Companies looking to get more information on how they can promote local talent can contact Vivian Haland at 403-504-4942.

amccuaig@medicinehatnews.com

In support of the upcoming Regional Skills Competition, the News will be featuring students from the area's high schools who will be participating in the trades' showcase event for youth.

The city's namesake Medicine Hat High School has long reputation for providing the area with skilled tradesmen and women.

This year, four of the school's hopefuls will be seeking to solidify Hat High's reputation as not only the home of outstanding academics but one which will see the next star mechanic, cosmetologist or videographer walk through its doors.

Sarah Church, 17, will be looking to out do her competitor's hairdos as she goes up against the regions best high school cosmologists.

"I'm hoping to go on to provincials, get experience and meet people in the industry," said Church.
And this year, the returning Skills competitor will be entering the senior level.

"We'll be doing updos and presenting them in a fashionable, nice way."

While Church will be primping, her classmate, Tanisha Bakalar, will be getting her hands dirty as the 17-year-old auto-mechanic will be prepping for her chance with the wrench.

As one of three young women in the school's automotive program, Bakalar is the only senior and female mechanic competing from the school.

"Winning would be nice," she said.
"If not, the fact I'm just going is a cool experience."

Her fellow mechanics, Cole Herrmann, 18, and Landon Petryshyn, 17, both said the skills they have learned at the school have prepared them for a fighting chance at winning.
"I think we are taught more thoroughly. It's drilled into our head," said Landon.

"If we don't know what we are doing, we work at it over and over again...We are definitely going for gold."

Herrmann said the automotive program at Hat High combines excellence with professionalism, traits the students will need for the Skills Competition.

"This (competition) is going to be more challenging than last year."

He added that the mechanics will be required to do everything from identifying buckets of parts to assembling components.
Brandon Hodel, 17, will competing in the relatively new recognized trade of TV and video production, something Hat High has equipped itself well with since the program started five years ago.

"We are doing the shooting and editing...spending more time with the editing," he said.

Hodel added since having started filming and editing on his own in Grade 7, he is hoping to do well in his category which will entail feature a video of the school's trade programs.

amccuaig@medicinehatnews.com

Hundreds of high school and junior high students piled into the Medicine Hat College Thursday as the city hosted the 2010 edition of the Regional Skills Competition.

The competition features the best student tradesmen and women in fields of welding, IT, mechanics, carpentry, hair design and video production.

Event organizer Sue Feeney said that considering the inclimate weather that has hit most of the province, only one competitor out of 110 was a no-show.

"It worked out well. We had 400 junior high students watching the competition and it was a little congested because we had to move everything inside," said Feeney.

But weather issues aside, the organizer said the event has been another success.

"Enthusiasm has been great...I'm always amazed at the skill level, it's unreal."

Medicine Hat High automotives instructor, Russ Konschuh, had his student crews looking to repeat as regional winners.

"It's a really well organized competition and it's well rounded," said Konschuh.

"Students are working hard to achieving a goal and they all want to go on to provincials so this is a good learning experience."

And as they put the finishing touches on their video project, Brooks Composite High School students Spencer Paddock, 17, commented on the trade that appears to be gaining popularity with students.

"We've been video-taping all the skills and promoting it to teens, showing all the things you can do," said Paddock.

"I like competition and the opportunity of showing your creativity."

Winners from the Regional Skills Competition will go on to provincials in Edmonton on May 12 and 13.

A handful of local students are putting their talents to work this weekend at the provincial Skills Canada Competition in Edmonton.

The Skills Competition is an Olympic-style trade and technology competition for high school and post-secondary students.

"It's an opportunity for students who excel in the trades to get recognition and acknowledgment for the skills they've obtained," says Medicine Hat High School welding instructor Henry Rempel.

One of Rempel's students, Braydon Manchur, is competing at provincials this year. Manchur, who is in Grade 11, won silver at the Regional Skills Competition which was held in Medicine Hat in April.

"I figured I'd place in the top five," says Manchur, who hopes to pursue a career in welding. "It (the competition) was nerve-wracking at first, but after a while, I just got used to it."
Skills Competition competitors are given an assignment in their specific field - be it mechanics, carpentry, hairdressing, or graphic design - and a certain amount of time in which to complete it. The finished products are then graded by a panel of judges.

"With that much pressure, you totally learn hairstyling at a different level," says Medicine Hat High School student Shelby Hale, who competed in the hairstyling category at provincials last year and will be again this year. "It's awesome to be judged and hear other's opinions."

"They meet other students in the cosmetology area and they also improve their skills from the regional competition," says Hale's teacher, Connie Atkison. "A lot of them also get the competing bug, and once they get that, they don't want to stop competing - they want to do better every time."
Rempel adds the Skills Competition is also a good way for students to market themselves to potential employers.

"We've had companies (attend the competition) scouting for prospective employees with a higher-calibre ability to apply their skills," he says.

Other local students who are competing at provincials include Medicine Hat High School hairstyling student Erica Gehring, and post-secondary students Jason Bamber (car painting), Jory Barton (carpentry), Michael Wright (graphic design), Cameron Morrisseau (refrigeration), and Jeffrey Neigum (welding).

Competition helps boost students' skills

Grade 11 Crescent Heights High School student Destiny Holowka is one of more than 100 students participating in the event. She hopes to improve on last year’s performance in her area of skill, IT software applications
.
“It works with three processes for Microsoft on the computer,” Holowka says about the competition category. “It’s Word, Excel and Access. It’s proving your skills and showing what you know about the softwares.”

Each of the three processes come with its own task, which students are provided a maximum of two hours to complete. For Microsoft Word, tasks could include writing a proper business letter, placing information onto an aesthetically-pleasing newsletter design or writing a memo. In Microsoft Excel, students will be expected to work with graphs such as pie charts, line graphs or bar graphs. In Microsoft Access, tasks could involve working with a database to quickly access information.

A great deal of practice goes into the competition. Holowka has been studying modules in her Information Processing class to make sure she understands the concepts before the challenges are placed before her.

Classmates have also been preparing because a great deal of skill is involved for some of the categories, she says. Last year students in the hairstyling category came up with creative styles no one would have ever thought of, she added.

“You have to be skilled to do this stuff. You have to take classes and courses and have knowledge of practical concepts. It’s crazy how much these people know and how well they can put their skills to work.”

Students will compete in other categories, including auto service, cabinet making, carpentry, hairstyling (junior and intermediate), TV/video production and welding. Each event will take place in different labs throughout the Medicine Hat College over the course of the day. Competitors from five school districts are challenged in trade-related tasks designed in collaboration with College professors.

The student competitors are judged by college instructors and industry representatives. Winners in some categories will go on to provincials.

Holowka said developing her skills in ITsoftware is very beneficial because the programs have many applications in today’s society. Her computer skills have helped her in other classes and she hopes they will open doors for her future.

“I’m not exactly sure what I aspire to do, but I think it’s helped me out a lot because every career needs someone with computer skills,” said Holowka. “It definitely broadens my range of careers in the future.”

Last year she didn’t place among the top performers, but that didn’t discourage her.

“I thought it was a really nice experience so I’d do it again.”
This year she thinks she has a better chance of doing well because she has gone through the experience before. And this time she has a strategy.

“I’m definitely bringing my creative side to it.”

Duchess welding student aiming at a second crown

The annual event promotes skilled trades and technologies as youth from five school districts are challenged in various tasks. The events are designed in collaboration with Medicine Hat College professors in categories including: Information processing, auto service, cabinet making, carpentry, hairstyling (junior and intermediate), TV/video production and welding.

Last year Bartman, who learned how to weld in his father’s garage over the last five years, took home the gold at a regional level. He went on to take fifth place provincially.

“I just went there and it was my first year, I didn’t know what to expect,” said the Grade 11 student who lives in Duchess. “I just went and tried my hardest and I guess I did alright.”

Bartman was challenged to create book-ends using a number of welding techniques. Without classroom experience, he was still able to impress the judges and take home the title.

Bartman has spent his evenings practising welding in preparation for this year’s competition at the Medicine Hat College on April 30.

“The pressure’s on this year because I won it last year.”
He is also signed up to learn more about welding through the Registered Apprenticeship Program (RAP). Meanwhile, he works at a body shop in Brooks, proving no one is limited to just one trade in the future.

Bartman is excited for this year’s competition, not just to show what he is capable of, but to see what his peers can do.
“It’s totally worth going.”