SIAST Kelsey Campus, Marca College, and Prairieland Exhibition Park were the hosting sites for the 2006 Provincial Skills Competition that was held March 16 – 17, 2006.   The competition showcased skills and talents of 304 young people from across the province. 

Each year the Saskatoon Home Builders Association puts on their annual Home Styles show. The event brings in an estimated 30,000 people that come and view the newest, latest in decorating, building products, etc. pertaining to the homeowner.  This year Skills Canada Saskatchewan was offered the opportunity to showcase 8 of the competition areas during the Home Styles event in Hall A at the Prairieland Exhibition Park.  The exposure and the awareness of having the competition areas in this type of setting is very successful.

The philosophy of the skills competitions is to reward students for excellence, to directly involve industry in coaching and evaluating student performance, and to keep training relevant to employer needs.  The competitions allow students to access the newest technologies, and communicate with industry experts who serve as mentors by showing students that the skills they possess are valuable.

Closing Ceremonies was held on Friday, March 17th at the Saskatoon Inn in the Saskatchewan Room C.  Recognition awards were presented to two individuals from secondary, post-secondary education and business. 

Gold medal winners will be eligible to represent Team Saskatchewan at the Canadian Skills Competition being held May 23 – 26, 2006 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

Young Women’s Conference:
Sask WITT and Skills Canada Saskatchewan hosted the second annual Young Women’s Conference Friday, March 17, 2006 at Prairieland Exhibition Park Terrace Room. The conference offers an opportunity for 60 young women in Grades 11 and 12 from local school districts to:

• Meet female role models who work in skilled trades and technical occupations
• Participate in networking and hands-on activities
• And tour the Provincial Skills Competition

Aboriginal Presentation:
Skills Canada Saskatchewan was offered the opportunity from the Prince Albert Grand Council to speak at the Youth Role Model Conference that was held November 15 – 16, 2005 in Prince Albert.  The conference brought in 500 students from various high schools across the northern part of the province.

On Saturday, April 1, 2006 SASKWITT and Skills Canada Saskatchewan hosted the first workshop for boys and girls grades 8 & 9 at SIAST Wascana Campus.  The one day workshop introduced 20 (9 girls, 11 boys) individuals to build your own scooter.  Each individual learned how to weld, paint, sandblast, use Autocad, cut and drill pipe. 

On Tuesday, April 4, 2006 Skills Canada Saskatchewan went to Standing Buffalo School to do a Bridge Building Workshop with 12 grade 9 students.  This workshop is designed for a team of 4 students to work together and build a bridge out of the supplied materials within a 2 hour timeframe.  There is some pre-prep work that needs to be done ahead of time, this entails researching structures of bridges. 

Skills Canada Saskatchewan and Community Networks (three school divisions: Regina Public, Catholic and Prairie Valley) Regina hosted their first cardboard boat challenge on Thursday, April 6, 2006 at the Lawson Leisure Centre. The event is designed for teams of 4. 72 students from the three school divisions attended the event.  Students are given 1 ½ hours to build a boat out of the supplied materials and then race their boat in the pool.  The event was a huge success with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the pool area to launch the racing of the boats.  Students are judged on construction of the boat, speed in the race and how much weight the boat can hold.  The 6 judges were from industry & government.  Skills Canada Saskatchewan presented medals and backpacks to the gold, silver and bronze place winners.

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