A Sturgeon County student has brought home the gold after defeating some of Canada’s top welders in a national Skills competition.
Sturgeon Composite student Joel Moerman took the top prize for welding during the 2017 Skills Canada National Competition held last May 31 to June 3 in Winnipeg.
The tournament drew some 500 high school and post-secondary students from across Canada to compete in about 40 different trades-related fields. Two of those competitors were from the St. Albert region.
St. Albert Catholic High student Chantelle Watson fell just short of the podium in the hairstyling contest, where she and seven others had about 10 hours to craft four unique hairstyles.
“It was really, really close between me and third,” she said.
Watson said she felt good about how she did and was glad to have had the chance to compete. She also got a bunch of free hair product out of it.
Moerman said he had 12 hours in which to weld a small rocket ship and a grain elevator from thick steel plates in his event, and was up against 11 of Canada’s best high-school welders. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec had particularly strong candidates.
Moerman said he’d been practicing his welds every day since the Alberta Skills tournament last month, having freed up the time to do so with the help of distance learning courses and his English teacher.
“In all honesty, the rocket was the harder project,” he said, as, despite being the one used at the lower-ranked provincial tournament, it had more difficult welds in it.
All that practice gave Moerman the confidence needed to blaze through his projects in just eight hours, giving him four to brush and polish his projects to perfection.
Moerman said he was a little worried after the event, as he knew he’d made some mistakes. He was nervous as heck during the awards ceremony, and initially feared he wouldn’t make the podium when he heard Ontario take the bronze.
“When they announced ‘Alberta,’ I just went crazy. It was such a huge adrenaline rush. It was awesome.”
Moerman received a gold medal and about $1,000 in scholarships from Skills Canada for his win.
It’s the first time in many years that Sturgeon Composite has won gold at nationals and likely the first time ever that it’s done so in welding, said Sturgeon Composite welding teacher Mike Johnson, who travelled with Moerman to the tournament. Moerman’s welds were so good that some of the judges said he could have participated in the post-secondary category, he added.
After the event, Moerman, Johnson and welding teacher Lucas Case said they had to haul the rocket and grain elevator – which collectively weighed about 60 pounds – back to the hotel room eight blocks away. Shipping them home (plus Moerman’s tools) cost about $200.
Moerman said he would likely apply a clear-coat and possibly gold paint to the grain elevator so it could be put in his mom’s garden. The rocket would likely go on a shelf somewhere.
As for his career plans, Moerman said he would pursue his degree as a welder/millwright at either the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology or the Alberta Pipe Trades College. Watson said she was starting at the EvelineCharles Academy for hairstyling in Edmonton this July.
Moerman and Watson say they plan to compete again at Skills as post-secondary students, with Watson adding that she hopes to qualify for the international WorldSkills event next year.
Skills tournaments are a lot of fun and open many doors for your career, said Moerman, who has already received several job offers due to his wins.
His advice for other students was simple: work hard.
“It doesn’t matter for what trade or what profession. Every time you practice, you get a little bit better.”
