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Students show skills Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, February 20, 2012
The event was the NWT South Regional Skills Competition, presented by Skills Canada NWT. The high school students competed in six categories - welding, cooking, hairstyling, photography, graphic design and workplace safety - at Aurora College and Paul William Kaeser High School. The competitors came from Fort Smith, Fort Resolution, Hay River, Gameti, Whati and Fort Providence. Jan Fullerton, executive director of Skills Canada NWT, said such regional skills competitions have several goals. "One of the big things is just to raise awareness of skilled trades and technology, and to build pride in pursuing skilled trades and technology careers," she said. "There's a huge shortage in the North, in Canada and, actually, around the world for people working in skilled trades." Fullerton added that, even though there is a shortage, skilled trades are not given the same attention and promoted in the same way as some professional careers and more academic careers based on university education. She noted the regional competitions also give youth in various communities a chance to try out trades and connect with other young people who enjoy learning a particular trade. "That can help them have more strength and confidence to pursue that particular area." Fullerton said the most important thing about the regional skills competition is to ensure the young people have a positive experience and walk away saying they had fun and learned something. Myranda Calumet, a Grade 12 student from Deninu School in Fort Resolution, was one of the participants at the NWT South Regional Skills Competition. The 19-year-old competed in workplace safety, which was her second choice since carpentry was not available. "I like carpentry, but there were not enough people that signed up for carpentry," she said. Calumet said she learned something about workplace safety, "That there are hazards all over the workplace and everything like that, and it's not good for people because you can get badly hurt." Calumet believes people learn more about the trades in a competition setting. "It's kind of like trying to do better than everyone else, so you find new ways to do something," she said. Mikale Eyakfwo, a Grade 10 student at Jean Wetrade Gameti School, participated in the photography competition. "The basics I already knew. It was like a whole review of what I do back in Gameti," he said, noting he has been learning photography for a couple of months. The 15-year-old said the skills completion was helpful because it reminded him of some of the things he has to know to be a good photographer This is the second year the regional competition has been held in Fort Smith. The first regional competition in the NWT was held four years ago in Inuvik. "Because it went really well, then we wanted to start offering it to more kids throughout the territory," Fullerton said. "So that's what led last year to the introduction of the competition here in Fort Smith." Last year, students participated from the South Slave and Deh Cho, and that was expanded this year to include youth from Tlicho communities. There were up to 30 competitors in Fort Smith, compared to 12 last year. Fullerton said it is hoped the numbers will keep growing. The 14th Territorial Skills Competition is planned for April 17 in Yellowknife. The first-place finishers at the regional competition in Fort Smith will move on to the territorials. Some second-place finishers may also move on to territorials, depending on the number of spaces available in a particular section of the competition.
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