| Regional school districts benefit from WorldSkills competition |
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| SW AB Content - Education |
| Friday, 06 November 2009 16:11 |
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By Susan Quinlan Southern Alberta WorldSkills 2009 was recently held in Calgary, encouraging youth to consider careers in trades and technology. An added benefit of the event was subsequently realized by regional school districts, that became benefactors of $16 million worth of equipment used during the competition. Among recipients in the south were the Palliser and Holy Spirit school divisions, as well as schools in Medicine Hat and the Grasslands school district. In a press release, Palliser Regional School Division announced they had received $14,000 in sewing machines and sergers for their fashion studies programs at County Central High School in Vulcan and Noble Central School in Nobleford. Holy Spirit Regional School’s superintendent, Christopher Smeaton, said they were fortunate to receive an influx of computer equipment, with St. Michael’s in Pincher Creek and St. Mary’s in Taber each receiving six new computers for their Career and Technology Studies (CTS) programs, while Catholic Central High School in Lethbridge received a laser printer for its graphic arts/CTS program. Medicine Hat School District also received equipment for their Industrial Control/Fashion Technology programs, as did Grasslands School District. All school divisions in the province were invited to submit proposals requesting equipment, said Allia Sabir, communications, Alberta Advanced Education and Technology. “Decisions were made based on priority, is this an upgrade to an existing program or is it going to be used to implement a CTS program. Government then allocated equipment according to needs and priorities,” explained Sabir. The Medicine Hat College also benefitted from the WorldSkills competition. The College received various items including a wet/dry vacuum; stools; lockers; storage cabinets; workbenches; a grinder; tool box; halogen worklight; measuring ruler; pliers; white board; push brooms; platform trolleys for material; air accessory kits; fume extractor filter carts; electrode oven; weld gauges; and welding screens. WorldSkills reports Alberta is the trades and skills capital of Canada, training 20 percent of Canada’s apprentices with only 10 percent of the nation’s population. As well, training programs in this province support over 50 trades and occupations, with 40,000 apprentices currently registered. The $56 million operating budget for the WorldSkills competition came from the Government of Alberta, $24.1 million, federal government, $13.4 million, sponsorship, $11.6 million and an additional $6.9 million from other revenues. The event, held in early September, was predicted to bring in $82 million to the city of Calgary. The ultimate goal of WorldSkills is to inspire young people to pursue careers in the trades and vocational areas, with the annual competition demonstrating hands-on expertise in 45 skill categories. As well, various interactive components are set up at the competition, including education and career booths. The next WorldSkills competition will be held in London, UK in 2011. |
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