Assiniboine students strike gold at skills competition

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/04/2025 (343 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three Assiniboine College students struck gold at Skills Manitoba, a provincial competition involving almost 500 students, who all brought their A-game in skilled trades and technology.

Brooke Heaman, Mathew Penner and Graham McGill are now members of Team Canada and will represent the province at Skills Canada in Regina, Sask., next month.

The skills competition is a chance for high school, post-secondary and apprenticeship students to showcase their talents in an Olympic-style, provincewide contest.

This year, it was held at Red River College Polytech on April 10, with 475 students competing in 42 skilled trades and technology contests.

Twenty-two Assiniboine students participated in 11 competitions. Of those participants, 12 earned gold, silver or bronze medals in their respective competitions, the college said in a news release.

McGill, a second-year web technologies student, said he never thought he’d be competing in his chosen field, but was happy to have “come out on top.”

“It’s meant to be an impossible task by design, but you sort of lose sight of that in the heat of the competition,” said McGill.

“It’s easy to let the project scope and the time-limit pressure overwhelm you, but this is all about getting out the best you can with what time you have. Function usually wins over form most of the time.”

Penner is an Assiniboine graduate in the construction electrician program and is now working on his Red Seal apprenticeship in electrical.

“I think this competition is a good way to show other people what the trades can look like, and Skills is a good way to get more people interested in the field,” said Penner.

Heaman is a second-year student in the college’s digital art and design program.

“In preparation, I would model 3D renderings over and over and refine my process. I then translated that to the competition, where I was able to complete the task in the allotted time, even building in a bit of time for refinement at the end of the day,” said Heaman.

Each event is designed and judged by industry professionals and educators. The philosophy behind the competition is to reward students, involve industry and to keep training relevant for employers’ needs, said acting dean of trades Jim DeGraeve, the Team Assiniboine lead.

“Skills Manitoba offers students the chance to put their classroom learning into real-world practice,” said DeGraeve.

“We look forward to this event every year. It fills the college with pride to see our students thrive in this environment, and it’s inspiring to witness the growing number of participants, medalists, and those advancing to represent our college on the national stage,” he said.

The Skills Canada National Competition will be held May 28-31.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» enviromichele.bsky.social