Foothills Composite Students' Skills Shine

Foothills Composite High School students headed to Edmonton last weekend to show off their Skills.

Skills Canada hosts competitions in trades and technology fields. This weekend, Skills Alberta's provincial competition was held in Edmonton.

Students from FCHS placed very well, with gold medals in Carpentry for Mac Simmonds, and Graphic Design for Julie Hayward; Alexandra Vander Maaten and Megan Pratt won bronze for a joint project in Video Production; a bronze for Marcus Carey in Joinery; a fourth place and Safety Award in Photography for Chase Ashbaugh; and a 6th place finish in Graphic Design for Dalton Hanley.

FCHS' Communications Technology teacher Ben Stevens says the competition offers students the opportunity to get close to real-world experience.

"I think it's the closest that we can get to providing a real-world environment where they can test their production skills against the best of the best," Stevens said. "It's one thing to be a big fish in a small pond, which we tend to be in our own school. But once we move into the regional level there's another test."

He believes the competition is one of the best ways for students to display the quality of their education.

"The fact that we're putting our students on the (Skills) podium year after year speaks to the caliber of education that we're offering here at Foothills Composite High School," Stevens said.

Megan Pratt and Alexandra Vander Maaten are grade 12 students who earned bronze for their joint project in Video Production.

Pratt says the competition left her feeling positive about having bonded with her classmates, and confident in her abilities.

"It was challenging, but I also felt like I was pretty qualified to be there," Pratt said. "I think it was nice to really bond with my peers. We had a really good group expperience together. And also to feel validated and (know) I am good at what I do."

Vander Maaten says the project tested their ability to meet intense deadlines.

"Having to space your time out accordingly so that you know what you're doing over the entire two days was definitely different," Vander Maaten said. "You have limited time to do every certain thing just to make sure you have a proper polished piece at the end."

According to Stevens, the ability to compete in Skills competitions is a privilege afforded by the school administrations support.

"(They) allow us to provide tools and a more authentic experience to our students," Stevens said. "When they're ready to compete in something like Skills, or when they're ready to head out into the real world, they have either the entrepreneurial skills to be successful, or they have a wild portfolio that will get them wherever their hearts desire to take them with their post-secondary experience."

Up next, the students who won gold will move on to the national Skills competition in Halifax on May 27.

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