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Employers put trades students on their radar at Regional Skills Competition

Apr 24, 2018 | 5:12 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The next generation of welders, carpenters, mechanics, and hair dressers showed off their talents on Tuesday at Medicine Hat College.

It was the 2018 South East Regional Skills Competition, attracting 94 high school competitors from Medicine Hat, Redcliff, Brooks, Duchess, and the surrounding areas.

Alexander Rice’s welded in his first skills competition and the Duchess Grade 10 student had to fight off some early nerves.

“The first couple rods I burned I was a little nervous, but after that I just realized all I had to do was weld,” said Rice.

The field was expanded to nine events this year to include automobile technology, baking, cabinet making, carpentry, culinary arts, hair styling (intermediate and junior), video production, and welding.

Regional skills has become an important scouting ground in this corner of the province, as the need for skilled trades workers in southern Alberta is still very high.

Medicine Hat College’s Dean of Trades and Technologies Dennis Beaudoin added it could get worse before it gets better.

“By about 2025, we’re going to be short about 25,000 tradesmen across the province of Alberta,” said Beaudoin.

Along with the 94 competitors, over 600 junior high and high school students were invited to watch the events.

Skills Project Manager Kristi Liboiron said the goal is to educate as many young people about the trades as possible.

“We have to start at the junior high level and get these students interested then, so that when they get into high school, they can take the proper CTS programming to get into the trades once they get to college,” said Liboiron.

Alberta’s trades workforce is aging as well, and Beaudoin said an injection of skilled youth would make a big difference.

“We got to make sure that we’re ready in training our new people, our new apprentices, and our younger generation to fill those gaps of maybe some of the people that have a little more grey hair around the temples,” he said.

Local entrepreneurs were also on hand to judge the competition, including Dynamic Industrial Solutions owner Donovan Bellamy.

He said the skills event is a chance to network with what could be his future employees.

“A couple years ago I gave a young gentleman my business card and he actually ended up calling me,” said Bellamy. “Now he’s a RAP student with us and that goes a long ways.”

According to Rice, he didn’t go into the competition expecting to meet local business owners, but said it was a welcome surprise.

“Talking to the coaches or whatever, it was pretty interesting to hear what they had to say,” he said.

The big hurdle for business owners like Bellamy in recent years has been attracting local talent, rather than hiring out of province.

“These young kids are our future and we need them,” said Bellamy. “We’re looking for people right now and it’s definitely hard out there to find the right people. We need to take these young kids and grow them, and mentor them to what we want for our workforce in the future.”

As for Rice, the next few years will be focused on honing his skills to pursue his dream job as a welder.

“I love welding, it’s that simple.”

The top two finishers from the nine events will advance to the 2018 Alberta Skills Competition in Edmonton on May 31.