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Skills Canada – Peace Region Competition hosted at Northern Lights College

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“This year’s Skills Canada event was the largest and most successful ever,” said Skills Canada Regional Coordinator Jamie Maxwell. “Over 300 competitors competed in a wide variety of events.”

Events included TV/Video Production, Cabinetmaking, Carpentry, Graphic Design, Hairdressing, Job Interview, Public Speaking, Welding, Spaghetti Bridge Building, Gravity Vehicle Racing, Robotics, Drafting, Sumo Robots and Gearbots.

The students were all very proud of their efforts, and Maxwell added how important competitions like this are. “Skilled Trades and Technologies are good options for today’s youth,” he said.

Many of NLC’s instructors, staff and students volunteered at the event.

“A day like this is tons of fun, a great day,” said Automotive Service Technician instructor Rod Cork. “This is also an opportunity to take some fear out of the future for these kids and show them that trades are not all work, it can be fun too. We have a great opportunity through this skills competition to provide mentoring, community and public service for all who attend.”

Each competition is chaired and judged by an experienced member of that trade as the Technical Chair.

“My role is to organize students for the competition and help them showcase their skills in addition to encouraging them to do their best and also improve,” explained North Peace Secondary School Hairdressing teacher and technical chair Kara Myllymaki. “I believe hairdressing is always a good industry to get into because it’s constantly growing and the work hours sometimes are a better fit for workers with young families.”

At the same time as the Skills Canada Peace Region Competition, younger grades were invited from across the school districts to participate in a Try-a-Trade and Women in Trades events.

“Having all three events run concurrently created an atmosphere that hummed with the talent of all involved.” said School District 59 Assistant Superintendent Candice Clouthier, “The presence of the elementary students added to the ambiance and the excitement of the day.”

Clouthier was thrilled to see students trying all the trades and observed their obvious interest in the hands-on experiences, especially the young girls attending the Women in Trades event.

“The Women in Trades event was well attended and a great experience for the young women involved,” she said. “This was a great opportunity for young women to meet and converse with successful women in trades.”

From here, the winners of the Regional Competition will have the opportunity to be invited to attend the Provincial Competition, taking place April 13th in Abbotsford.

The 2016 finalists for the Skills Canada Peace Region competition were:

JUNIOR SKILLS
Gravity Vehicle Race
Gold    Delaney Dunbar  (McLeod)
Silver   Sage Halma (DCSS-CC)
Bronze Cole Regner, Shawn Coldwell (DCSS)
Spaghetti Bridge
Gold    Anika Humborstad / Amy Crandall (DCSS-CC)
Silver   Krystina Haggard /  Donovan Wieler / Rainah Green (CSS)
Bronze Matia Baburisca / Abe Fehr (Prespatou Elem-Sec)
Sumo Robot
Gold    Bree Torgrimson (Ecole Frank Ross)
Silver   Cameron Fehr, Jonathan Friesen, Peter Wall (Prespatou Elem-Sec)
Bronze Brendan Klassen, Jordan Sowers (Prespatou Elem-Sec)
SECONDARY
2D Computer Animation

Gold    Samantha Chalmers (DCSS-SP)
Silver   Julie Cade (DCSS-SP)
Bronze Nick Williams (DCSS-SP)
TV/Video Production
Gold    Jaden Ford / Nova LeFresne (DCSS-SP)
Silver   Bohdi Landon / Zac Grose (CSS)
Bronze Jacob Dempsey (CSS)
Mechanical CAD

Gold    Caden Embree (DCSS-SP)
Silver   Jordan Peterat (DCSS-SP)
Graphic Design
Gold    Alexis Glenn (NPSS)
Silver   Evan Syrnyk (CSS)
Bronze Tanner Calliou (CSS)
Cabinetmaking
Gold    Tommy Bullert (NPSS)
Silver   Kohl Halladay (NPSS)
Bronze Austin Baxter (NPSS)
Carpentry
Gold    Nick Kurjata (NPSS)
Silver   Chris MacKay
Bronze Logan Perison (DCSS-SP)
Hairdressing
Gold    Chelsea Babcock (NPSS)
Silver   Kylee Knight-Stutzman (NPSS)
Bronze Ayla Falkenberg (NPSS)
Job Interview
Gold    Tobyn Volz (NPSS)
Silver   Alyssa Strelaev (NPSS)
Public Speaking
Gold    Erykah Brown (DCSS-SP)
Silver   Justin Mah (NPSS)
Bronze Cliodhna McMenamin (NPSS)
Robotics
Gold    Parker Gould / Dylan Lock / Justin Mah / Cody Brulé (NPSS)
Silver   Jordan Streeper / Riley Boomer / Sara Hanaback / Hannah Klassen (FNSS)
Welding
Gold    Tristen Scriven-Feisel (DCSS-SP)
Silver   Jayden Gagne (DCSS-SP)
Bronze Samuel Needham (DCSS-SP)
Culinary Arts
Gold    Leah Gifford (NPSS)
Silver   Sara Lyons (NPSS)
Bronze Matthew McMullin (NPSS)
Automotive Service
Gold    Joshua Needham (NPSS)
Silver   Liam Robertson (NPSS)
Bronze Trystan Mercer (NPSS)
POST-SECONDARY
Carpentry

Gold    Josh Belkin (NLC)
Silver   Johnathan Neale (NLC)
Bronze Hendrick Lankers (NLC)
Culinary Arts

Gold    Terry Ahern
Silver   Laura Lambert
Bronze Cyndy Whitford
Hairdressing
Gold    Bobbie Evrall (FNSS)
Silver   Holly Newhook (NPSS)

NOMINATED COMPETITORS FOR PROVINCIALS
Secondary
Electrical Wiring
Robby McMullin (Post-Secondary)
Industrial Mechanic (Millwright)
Brandon Kowalski (Post-Secondary)
Plumber
Sterling Nelson (Post-Secondary)