The Estevan Comprehensive High school sent 17 students to Saskatoon on April 7 to compete in the 2017 Provincial Competition Skills Canada for Saskatchewan. The annual competition is a chance for high school and post secondary students to not only showcase their talents in various trades, but to compete against their peers in the hopes of going to Nationals and even Worlds. 

This year, students competed timed competitions during the day long event in various trades recognized by the apprenticeship board of Saskatchewan.

Mark Kroeker, precision machining instructor at the school, spoke about how the students feel about the competition. 

"Our students love going to Skills. It's a huge opportunity to compete against other students. If they are very successful, they can continue onto the world stage. You can think about it as the Olympics of trades."

Drafting teacher, Tara Johns, who was also at the competition, adds that the students often find the day stressful and exhausting.

"We try to prepare them the best we can by giving them mock tests that simulate what they have to do and time them so they understand the stress and the time management involved in getting that project done."

She shares that teachers put in a lot of hours helping them prepare for the competition. 

 "As a teacher I've probably put in over 100 hours training the students over and above class time."

Kroeker adds that is is worth it to see them compete.

"We put in many, many hours working with the students throughout the year. It's a big relief when we get to this point. It's great to see how much they've grown over the year. It's also a little bit stressful for us because we can't communicate with the students during the competition. Basically we are observers. We sit back and bite our nails and hope they are successful."

He goes on to to say that Estevan is a trade centered community so competitions like Skills are valuable to everyone.

"There are many different trades in our city that support our industries so it's really important for the future of our economy and for our students at ECS to gain those skills not only for job skills but for life skills they can take with them wherever they may go."

Johns also believes that the experience is not only beneficial for the respective industries but for the students overall. 

"I think it's a great opportunity for the students to learn their stress management and time management. you take those talented students that you can see in class that have a gift for that area and you build them up. Even if they don't go into that line of work in the end, they've gained so many extra life skills that they can take with them."

Johns adds that 5th Street Auto-body helped train one of their auto body students.

The full list of competitors and medal winners:

Architectural Drafting and Design – Kendra Senchuk (Gold) Jade Ruel (Silver)

Auto body Repair – Austin Smith (Gold)

Baking – Avery Dechief (Bronze)

Braiding and bridal – Tamira Krall

Esthetics – Cazlynn Barnstable, Payten Wilson (Model)

Hairstyling – Cierra Naka (Gold), Ricki Graham (Silver)

Mechanical CADD – Eric Swirski (Gold), Amber Hammermeister (Silver)

Outdoor Power and recreation – Preston Fieber

Photography – Tia Dayman (Silver), Sarah Wright

Precision Machining – Thomas Massett

TV/Video – Tyler Knibbs (Silver), Kaitlyn Ricard (Silver)

Welding – Logan Stepp

The gold medalists will go on to compete at Nationals in Winnipeg from May 31- June 3. Worlds will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE on October 14-19