Saskatchewan was well represented when three Estevan students took to the national Skills Canada Competition to show the country what they can do.
Riley Wallewein represented Estevan, the Comprehensive School and the province in the architectural technology competition, collecting a silver medal, while Rebecca Blackburn earned silver in the hairstyling competition. Emily Vollmin was the third Estevan representative competing at nationals. As the first Estevan student to compete at nationals in mechanical drafting, she captured a sixth-place finish.
"The projects were definitely harder than (at provincials)," said Riley, a Grade 12 student. "You had to manage your time better. You didn't have as much time compared to the difficulty of the project."
Riley competed in a group of seven while Grade 11 student Rebecca faced a group of nine. She found a considerable jump in the skill level from the provincial competition to the national one.
The students left June 4 for Vancouver and returned June 9, with the competition days held last Thursday and Friday.
Riley said he didn't quite know what he would be asked to do once the competition opened, so his preparation with teacher Tara Johns was very open-ended.
"You just, kind of, have to know how to do everything and know how to do a lot of stuff. You know the format from last year's practice but you don't know the exact specifics of it."
Riley had to design a single level house on Day 1, and on Day 2, competitors had to make modifications to their initial design. Their designs from the day before had been destroyed overnight in a mock disaster.
"They gave us the foundation size and said it was destroyed in a natural disaster and they wanted to rebuild and customize it to their own liking," noted Riley.
Rebecca knew what she would be doing in the hairstyling competition so she was able to prepare for the specific style required during the competition. The biggest obstacle for her was completing the work within the time limits.
On Day 1, she worked on male styles, completing a progressive man and a burbage man.
"A progressive man is an avante-garde style. It's really out there. It's not something someone would usually wear. A burbage is an Elvis style," she said, noting there were three and a half hour and two hour time limits, respectively.
The second day was spent entirely on women's hair under the themes lady's day and lady's night, coming in with four hour and one and a half hour time constraints.
"We had to design the styles, and then work on speed and timing. In our time limit we had to cut, colour, bleach and style the hair."
She found there wasn't really any chance of finishing early, so she required all the time available to perfect her styles.
The provincial competition was held in April, and Joyce Mack, hairstyling and esthetics instructor, said the students had about 200 hours of preparation for both competitions. After school and on the weekends all three students worked to ready themselves to compete against the top-skilled students across the country.
Mike Holmes is the official spokesperson of Skills Canada, and Riley said he told them, "If you love what you do, you won't think of it as work. Even if you would have got sixth or seventh or last it's still not a waste of time. You're still trying to excel in an area you like."
The projects in Riley's category weren't on display, so he wasn't entirely sure what his competitors produced, but Rebecca was able to see what her competition was doing throughout the trials.
"We were all in the same area, the competition floor," said Rebecca. "After, they had all our heads set up we had to take our stuff off so when the judges came in to judge the heads, they didn't know who we were. We were just a number to them."
When the students weren't in the heat of competition they were able to roam BC Place, where the national competition was held.
"It was all in one site so it was really nice seeing the finished products on Day 2," noted Riley.
Both teachers were happy with the performance of their students, not based purely on results, but because they put in the effort.
"The kids prepared as hard as we could prepare them, and they took it from there," said Mack. "I couldn't have asked for any more from them because they were outstanding."
Johns said the event is also a great professional development opportunity for the teachers because they can talk to other instructors and see how other programs are run in other provinces.
"For my mechanical student, when she was there, it was nice to watch because the world competitors were there doing the same projects, so you can watch what the world level is doing," said Johns. "You can pick up different tips and tricks and techniques."
The students were appreciative of their coaches, noting without them giving up time, they wouldn't be able to compete at all.
"A lot of people say it's about us, but it's equally about the coaches too," said Riley.
