Last week 32 students from the Swift Current Comprehensive High School travelled to Regina to compete in the 20th Annual Skills Canada Saskatchewan Competition.

The skills competition pits students from all across the province against each other in 41 different skill set categories. The students are given a project or testing component in their skillset in which they have eight hours to complete it.

Swift Current was represented by Grade 9 to 12 students in 29 different skillsets and were able to walk away with some hardware as Swift Current took home 12 medals including five goals, five silver, and two bronze.

Cindy Lowe is the Business Education, Skills & Apprenticeship Teacher at the Swift Current Comprehensive High School.

Lowe said that to see the success of the students this year is exciting.

"They worked hard; they prepared, they trained," she said. "There's a lot of pride that comes out of the event when they know that they are some of the best in Saskatchewan in that area."

Lowe adds that for the five students who took home gold medals, they will represent Saskatchewan at the Skills Canada National Competition in Edmonton in June.

"The kids are just beaming," she said. "It's a little bit of a realization for them. Sometimes kids are their harshest critics where they don't think they can do it, but just that ambition to try and give it a go and then all of sudden they've won gold."

The competition features a variety of skillsets for the students to participate in: from robotics and website development to automotive technology and cosmetology.

Lowe says that the high school can't offer all of the 41 different skillsets.

"Some of these kids are doing some of these things on their own," she said. "We don't teach classes in everything. This pushes them to explore on their own and to explore the trade a bit more. Some of them are sort of outside of what we teach. They might come through the work experience program with me and go with an employer. It's a competition in something they're good at, no different than a kid that's good in basketball; this allows them to compete with their skillset."

A lot of the skillsets that the students are competing in are careers that they intend on pursuing and the competition allows them to get a chance to gain experience on how to do the job.

Lowe says that's what she likes about the competition most is the connection between employability, career planning, and education.

"It's the connection to career development and skill planning for their future," she said. "Employers really value this. Students that come out of provincial skills and put it on their resume, the employers ask them about it because the skills competition is often independent or teams or two so they have to work through a challenge, a difficult situation and overcome obstacles, preserve, and have determination."

Lowe says that the skills that they show interest employers. 

"They're sitting there for eight hours, and they may not be sure what to do they have to work to through that and employers really see a lot of value in that and the importance of working through this challenge," she said. "They want to hire these kids because they know they have a certain level of skill that they can put them right on the job right away."

Lowe added that eventually, she would like to have a student in each one of the 41 categories.

 

GOLD

Spencer Linsley (Workplace Safety)

Jayden Cooke (Autobody)

Kiera Volk (Fashion technology)

Kaitlyn Haubrich (Job Interview)

Kyton Dietz (3D Art)

SILVER

Brandon Wilson (Autobody)

Mason Smeby (Workplace Safety)

Robin Matisho (Fashion Technology)

Krishin Hockridge (2D Animation)

Danika Messer (Car Painting)

BRONZE

Cole Martin (Car Painting)

Abby Murray (Aesthetics)