Ponoka Composite High School will be sending 11 students to compete at the Provincial Skills competition on May 22 and 23 at Stampede Park in Calgary. The competition will host more than 600 high school and post secondary students from across Alberta in 40 trade and technology competitions.
PCHS students who will be competing are; Sarah Hogman and Joel Graham in 2D character computer animation, Bart van Haaren in cabinet making, Brady Swier in carpentry, Arlene Cattleman in junior hairstyling, Samantha Sperber and Jessica Vleeming in job interview, Tyson Klein and Christiaan Opsteen in job skills demonstration, Colton McClafin in website development and Jordan Fenske in welding.
PCHS carpentry and woodworking teacher Dick Unruh has been involved with Skills Canada for 15 years. He believes that this is an advantage because he has been going since the program started and thinks he is one of the last teachers from when it started.
He also thinks that the grant money from Skills Canada that the school recently received is largely because of how successful the school has been.
“Ever since I brought Skills Canada in I’ve thought that this is the best program going. With sports you can go to provincials and that’s the end of it. With this it is dealing with life skills and it is what they will do for the rest of their lives. When they win a medal it gives them an extra boost,” said Unruh. “I get phone calls from Calgary and Edmonton from companies who want to hire my students. NAIT and Red Deer College have had scholarship competitions to attract my students to their schools. RDC has said my students are the best that they can get.”
This year is the first year that PCHS will send a student to compete in the beauty culture competition. They are in a lower grade so they will not move on but it is good to have more students compete thinks Unruh. He will also bring eight students to the competition to watch and learn for next year. He says that this is not just a day off school.
“I find taking students to watch it gives them an understanding for next year. Those going to watch are seriously interested in pursuing Skills Canada.”
Grade 11 student van Haaren is one of the hardest workers according to Unruh and he thinks van Haaren will medal after finishing fourth last year.
“I always tell my students if they finished fifth or higher the previous year they should be able to medal the next year,” said Unruh.
By the time the competition is over van Haaren will put in 500 hours of practice including his hands on experience at his part-time job at Ponoka Cabinet Makers.
“It’s a challenge. I like wood working and working with my hands,” said van Haaren. “I need to keep practicing and try to be more of a perfectionist and not settle if it is not perfect.”
He wants to go into some sort of trade such as carpentry or cabinet making and thinks that his experience at Skills Canada will help him pursue his dream.
“It’s a good thing on my resume. It shows employers I am committed. I can get bursaries and maybe even job offers,” said van Haaren. “I want to get the gold medal. It’s something I like doing and it will also be great to look back on some day.”
Last year two students from PCHS did very well at Skills Canada. Tyler Reinbold won gold at provincials and silver at nationals and Rode Vold won gold at provincials and both are currently working in the carpentry field.
The Canadian Skills Canada competition will be held in Calgary May 26 to 27. World Skills will be held in Calgary in 2009 and the team that will represent Canada will be selected at the 2008 Canadian Skills competition.