Four Chinook's Edge students say they learned a lot at Provincial Skills Alberta Competition

Four Chinook’s Edge students have returned from the Provincial Skills Alberta Competition, having represented their schools with excellence. The event was in Edmonton on May 7-8, 2025. 

Didsbury High School students Johan Eriksson and Ryder Mierke both competed in the carpentry event, as did Auston Wright from Hugh Sutherland School. Logan Swanson from Didsbury High School participated in the welding event. All four students qualified for the opportunity after competing in regional events in March 2025.

Auston Wright placed fourth in the carpentry competition. He says, “It was super stressful working on a timeline with judges staring at you. It was a good experience overall and I will compete next year too."  Wright plans to sell his project. 

"It was an amazing experience, I learned a lot and I hope to make it back again next year,” says Ryder Mierke. 

Johan Eriksson says, “This was a great experience for me. Feeling a sense of accomplishment doesn’t always have to come from earning a medal as long as you feel like you have grown your skills in the trade, and I have.” 

Carpentry students built a gazebo with what Eriksson calls “a challenging roof structure”. The students were able to prepare in advance by looking at the plans and practicing building the project at home. Also, they had to come prepared for changes to the plans that competition organizers could add after they had arrived in Edmonton. 

“I like the challenge of it all,” says Eriksson, who has been invited to provincials before.  “I also like that 20 of the best high school carpenters are all in the same room. It gets intense sometimes. At home, you might spend a couple hours here or there on a project as it fits your schedule, but at provincials you have to build a whole project in 12 hours over two days. It’s challenging and it’s kind of survival of the fittest, but I enjoy that.”

This was Mierke’s first visit invitation to provincials. He was also looking forward to the challenge. “I wanted to see how other people were going to build the project.”  Mierke hasn’t decided what career he’ll pursue after high school, but carpentry is an option. “I like seeing the the final product comes out of the raw material,” says Mierke.  “I like how forgiving wood is. It is easy to shape.”

Eriksson says he plans to go into power engineering first, and then follow up with some training in carpentry. “I love what I can create with wood,” he says. “There is so much you can do with it.”

Cassandra Buck, Didsbury High School’s shop teacher, went with the students to Edmonton. “I am incredibly proud of these students. They are skilled, hard working and passionate.”

Buck says she was thrilled to see three of her students compete at the provincial level. “It gives them the ability to challenge themselves in a different way. The environment stretches them beyond what they would see in a classroom. It gives them a sense of accomplishment.”

“We are really proud of these students,” says Scott MacDonald, Principal DHS.

“We have been working hard at Didsbury High, to help students have great learning opportunities in the trades, and we are pleased to see our students excelling in the areas they are passionate about.”

Skills Alberta is a part of a national association: Skills Canada. According to the Skills Alberta website: “To meet industry and education demands and in anticipation of future trends, Skills Canada Alberta was established in 1992 to equip young minds with the skills that will help Canada compete successfully in a drastically changing world market.”

There are 32 categories in the competition including computer animation, auto body repair, graphic design, electronics, photography, hairstyling, robotics and web design.