Two St. Albert-area students got silver medals this week after taking on the province in a virtual skills competition.
St. Albert Catholic High’s Athena Moukhaiber and Dylan Kostiw of Sturgeon Composite won silver medals at the Skills Alberta Virtual Competition awards ceremony May 29. Skills Alberta officials delivered the medals to them June 8.
Skills Canada Alberta organized the first-ever online version of their annual Skills competition last month after the pandemic made their regular in-person event impossible. The competition sees hundreds of Alberta students compete in various trades-related events for scholarships and a shot at the national Skills tournament.
This year’s event saw about 275 students compete in 22 events, including baking, cabinet making and robotics, said Skills Canada Alberta spokesperson Victoria Anderson. The top three contestants in each event received medals, with the top Grade 12 competitor also getting a scholarship.
“It went better than we could ever have imagined,” Anderson said of the event, and the students really enjoyed the chance to show off their skills.
Ten students from St. Albert and Sturgeon-area schools took part in the competition.
Moukhaiber, who is in Grade 10, took second in the Job Skills competition, during which she had to create an explanatory video of a work-related skill.
“I really love doing hair,” she said, so she decided to demonstrate how to do a trendy hairstyle that included a bun and a Kardashian curl (named after the prominent celebrity family).
Moukhaiber said she practiced on a mannequin head before filming her roughly 20-minute entry.
“The curl is pretty complicated,” she said, especially as she had to do it on herself, but the bun was relatively easy.
Grade 11 student Kostiw took second in Welding, which is a skill he enjoys using on his family’s farm. His challenge was to take a blueprint of a toy-sized pickup truck and explain the various welds on it and draw the patterns he’d use if he were to actually build it.
“It was a hard thing to work on,” he said, with about 20 different welds to interpret.
Kostiw said he plans to build the toy truck for fun in the next few months.
Moukhaiber and Kostiw said they hope to compete in Skills again next year, and encouraged others to give it a try.
“It’s a good opportunity to try something new,” Kostiw said.
See skillsalberta.com/skills-alberta-virtual-comp for the list of winners and vimeo.com/426412155 for the awards ceremony.
