INUVIK
Jacob Klengenberg won the small engine repair category of the NWT-North Regional Skills Competition Thursday, March 16, even though, by his own account, he hadn't touched a motor in about a year.

Marcus Kimiksana, from Tuktoyaktuk, gets some advice from tech chair Ed Hartley while working on the small engine repair competition. - Stewart Burnett/NNSL photos

"This year I was unprepared," said Klengenberg, who competed in the same category in the territorial competition last year.

"I did not touch an engine before I came here for a whole year and I did not study for my written test, so that was challenging," the Ulukhaktok youth said.

It took him a little while to get back in the groove.

"It started off quite slow in the first half until the 10 a.m. break," recalled Klengenberg. "After that I started flying through everything, getting my engine back together and got the tests done and I felt really good about myself."

Disassembling and reassembling the engine challenges the memory, he said.

"That was a lot of hard work and it was really fun."

Meghan Russell, from Tulita, competed in the cooking competition and made a complete meal.

"It was complicated, but it was good," she said afterward. "It was difficult but I got through it."

Inuvik-Boot Lake MLA Alfred Moses told the youth he was impressed with their efficiency.

"It's pretty amazing that you guys can do all of this in about half a day," said Moses during a wrap-up speech. "It goes to show that when you put your mind to it, you can actually achieve and do things in a short amount of time."

The event was the ninth annual North Regional Skills Competition and accompanied a career expo at East Three School.

There were eight competition areas with 40 competitors in total, coming from many of the surrounding communities, including Aklavik, Paulatuk, Tuktoyaktuk, Tulita and Ulukhaktok.

"It went fantastic," said organizer Teya Moore. "They all did very well."

She said Skills Canada NWT believes in encouraging skilled trades and technology education among youth in the territory.

She also thanked exhibitors and everyone involved with putting the event on.

"It really takes a whole community in the North pulling together their resources to make these events possible," said Moore.

"The assets of the community are really the gems we rely on and we're so grateful to everybody that comes together to put on these events for the kids."

Certain students will now be selected to represent the region at the territorial competition in May.

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