High School Students Take On The Province At Trades Competition

A number of local high school students took on the Province last week at the annual Skills Manitoba competition.

The RRTVA (Red River Technical Vocational Area) team earned two medals; Daniel Banman-Janzen of Northlands Parkway Collegiate took silver in Outdoor Power and Recreation Equipment.

Grade 12 student Calvin Wiebe, also of NPC, earned a bronze medal in Electrical Installation.

Wiebe says the competition is not for the faint of heart.

"You definitely sweat a lot," he says. "You are competing against 20 other guys, different schools are touring through, there's the pressure of the time and you look around and other guys are further than you and you start panicking because you look at the time and there's only two hours left... but you just gotta give it your all."

Wiebe's Electrical Instructor Trent Krahn says the competition allows students to start building their resume in their trades. In recent years a number of students have taken top spots at the annual high school trades gathering.

"It does show we put a little extra time into our students and that this region does have quality programs that kids want to take," he says.

Also included on the team was Evan Klassen of W.C Miller competing in Automotive Service and Tristen Malvaney-Letkeman of Ecole St. Jean Baptiste in Nail Technology.

Malvaney-Letkeman explains the event is an intense competition, but also offers a place to showcase their skills to friends and family.

"I was pumped to see my mom and sister there and have them watch me do that because I don't think they've seen much of my nail art," she says. "It was nice knowing they were there."

Students from GVC included David Thiessen competing in Automotive Service, Tobias Schlegel in Carpentry, Eric Warms in Outdoor Power and Recreation Equipment and Joshua Nikel competing in Workplace Safety.