By Tara Sly

This past Thursday and Friday, Grade 10 and 11 students from Bow Valley High School attended WorldSkills 2009. Each day, three buses took students and supervisors down to the Stampede Grounds in Calgary so they could take in the competition and surrounding events.

Many have called World Skills 2009 the “Trade Olympics.” With over 40 different trades represented, that certainly appears to be true. In attending, Calgary and area students had the chance of a lifetime.

Assistant Deputy Minister of Alberta Employment and Immigration, Shannon Marchand, said, “World Skills is a fantastic opportunity for young Albertans to be exposed to every imaginable trade and technology career.”

From all accounts, BVHS students are very grateful to have had this opportunity; they thought it was amazing!

Cara Lakeman, Danica Listahaeghe, Julia Belsey and Tori Anderson were some of the Bow Valley High students that visited WorldSkills 2009. (Photo submitted)

Grade 11 student Danica Listhaeghe commented, “It was an awesome experience to be able to see different options that are available to students after high school.”
“It was so interesting to see all the possibilities out there,” added classmate Matthew Bales. “There were so many activities to see and so many hands on activities, like cooking. I liked the welding exhibits, and I didn’t get to try it, but it looked very cool!”

Young people from all over the world came to Calgary to compete in this international competition in their specialty areas, from welding to aircraft mechanic maintenance to forestry to cooking to landscape architecture to fashion technology design…and the list goes on. For BVHS students, this excursion was set up primarily by Lana Allen, the school’s career advisor, and principal Susan Poole.

Allen indicated, “I hope that the students discovered the many opportunities that are available in the technology and trade sector, and that they saw the value of this sector as a possible career opportunity.”

Grade 11 student Tessa Davidson emphasized, “My mind was definitely broadened to the huge number of possibilities out there for us in our career future. This experience was fantastic! I’m so glad we were able to go, and there was so much to see.”

With events and competition areas set up in five tents on the Grounds and inside the Big Four, the BMO Centre, and the Grandstand, there was no shortage of things to engage attendees. For BVHS students, it was truly eye-opening, as they watched competitors make their vision within the competition requirements a reality right before the students’ eyes.

“It was neat to experience all the different career choices hands on, and they really tried to involve all the students,” said Cara Lakeman on Friday.

Atazia Hadjirousev observed, “There were so many different halls where (we) could see these people’s life works; seeing their intensity, focus, and commitment was inspiring.”

Where competition is all about speed and quality, the students were often amazed at what the competitors were able to create and shape into their works. The bar is set high and gives students wishing to enter these areas a solid perspective on what it means to be the best in these fields.

Upon watching the pastry competition where competitors took chocolate and made figurines and substantial displays, Hadjirousev said, “It was amazing to see how intricate it was.”

Classmate Caitlin Harbottle added, “I enjoyed the cooking competition. I found being able to watch the competitors so interesting because they were so intense. I think it would be great to do something like this myself someday.”

Students also had time to take in many of the hands-on activities and displays. Many of them found something they could come back and talk excitedly about when they returned.

“The program that modeled the skull in 3-D was cool,” said Brett Hiebert. “It gave a rough outline of the skull and then cuts outs. It was amazing!”

Davidson enjoyed seeing the floristry displays the most. “It was cool to see the tastes and styles and cultural elements of so many countries brought to the floral arrangements and cooking. If we hadn’t come to WorldSkills, this is something we likely wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise,” she commented.

Some students even had the privilege of watching BVHS alumni Daniel Reed compete.

Allen said, “It was such a thrill to watch him compete in the Information Network Cabling competition. Daniel was interested in computers all through high school and was always assisting computer teachers with IT issues. It was pretty obvious that he would pursue a career that was in the computer technology field.”

Overall, attending WorldSkills is not something these students will soon forget.

Related Stories

No related posts.

• Filed under Community | Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.