Four Comp students off to Skills Canada National Competition

Half a dozen Swift Current Comprehensive High School students earned some provincial hardware last Friday at SaskPolytech Saskatoon.  

Swift Current sent 10 participants in nine different categories to the Skills Canada Saskatchewan Competition and won a total of three gold and three bronze medals.

Skyler Harding won a gold medal in car painting and booked a ticket to the Skills Canada National Competition later this month.

"It was a good feeling," he said. "Nothing I've ever felt before."

The grade 12 student was tasked with sanding, preparing, and painting a car hood a task he's familiar with.

"I got interested in the shop we have here," he explained. "Now I'm working at Standard Motors in their autobody shop."

Joining Harding in Winnipeg is the team of Joe Boss and Jacob Hancock who claimed gold in 3D character animation and Autumn Coats who won bronze in IT office software applications. 

"Our competitors themselves will be preparing on their own time and a little bit at school," Mark Kroeker, a construction and drafting teacher at the Swift Current Comp, said. "It's a two-day competition versus a one-day at provincials. They have two days of eight hours of competition time and it's very intense." 

The four Swift Current Comprehensive High School students will head to Winnipeg and take on 12 other participants in their categories on May 25-26.

"Doing what I did at provincials, practicing the same skills, and then I got my scope on what they expect and I've been practicing that," Harding said about his preparation tactics.

The other two bronze medals won by Swift Current students were Tyler Lacelle in precision machining and Dylan Hogg in automotive repair.

The list below has each of the ten participants from the Comp and the category they were in.