Superior skills, steel and style earned three local students gold medals and a ticket to nationals last week at a provincial trades tournament.
Chantelle Watson of St. Albert Catholic High and Grace Arndt and Joel Moerman of Sturgeon Composite High won gold in their respective events last week at the 25th annual Alberta Provincial Skills Canada Competition.
Some 700 students from across Alberta were at the Edmonton Expo Centre May 10 and 11 to compete in 45 different events, each based on a different trade-related skill. Challenges included cake baking, car painting, and hairstyling.
"It's one of the best feelings in the world," said Moerman, of his win.
"The fact that I made it to nationals is a dream come true."
Cool under pressure
Moerman's task in Welding – Secondary was to weld a Buck Rogers-esque model rocket ship from metal plates in six hours, completing multiple welds in the process.
He said the first weld was the toughest, but once he finished it, he settled into his comfort zone. He was pleasantly surprised to learn that the welder he'd been given used a more expensive argon mix for its shielding gas instead of the pure CO2 he'd used in practice, which made his job a lot easier.
"Everything seemed to work well for me at the competition."
Moerman blazed through his welds with an hour to spare, and used his leftover time to clean and polish his welds to perfection. He said many of his competitors seemed to struggle with the challenge, with some not even bothering to clean their weld before turning in their projects.
Moerman said he took his rocket home after the tournament and brought it to school. He wasn't sure about its space-worthiness.
"There's no ceramic cladding on the side, so it might burn up in the atmosphere, but other than that I think it's pretty strong," he joked.
Arndt had a more fraught experience at Skills, having just 1.5 hours to create a unique bridal evening hairstyle out of long hair for the intermediate hairstyling event. She said the many people watching and talking as she worked proved distracting, and that she was pressed for time to complete her complex design.
"There was no time whatsoever to take my hands off my mannequin at any point," she said.
She didn't have time for any breaks, but she did get to enjoy the smells from the foods events next door.
Arndt suspects her willingness to experiment with colour and take more risks with her design may have given her an edge over her competitors, who stuck with more practical hairdos.
Arndt said she was somewhat disappointed with her performance afterwards, as she knew she could do better. She was worried about how she did, but also knew she was just at the event to have fun, as intermediate hairstylists didn't go on to nationals.
"In my mind, I had already won."
Watson's senior hairstyling contest was a two-day, six-hour event that saw her make four different hairdos. She said her favourite was the bridal up-do, as that allowed for the most creativity. She ended up making something with a big bun and lots of swirly bits.
Watson said she goofed up during one of the men's cuts when she accidentally cut a chunk of hair off the side of her mannequin's head. She turned it into an opportunity, though, by carving two arches over the missing chunk.
In addition to their medals, Watson and Moerman received scholarships and spots at the national Skills Canada tournament in Winnipeg this June.
Arndt said she planned to try out for Skills again next year, having earned a big confidence boost from her win.
"That (boost) means the world, as there are always days where you doubt yourself."
The national Skills tournament runs from May 31 to June 3. Visit http://skillscompetencescanada.com for details.
