MHC pair show strong at World Skills Competition

By Tim Kalinowski on November 9, 2017.

tkalinowski@medicinehatnews.com @MHNTimKal

Medicine Hat College students Tanner Tendler and Justin Fischer recently proved they were among the best young tradesmen in the world after a largely successful performance as members of Team Canada for the World Skills Competition 2017 held Oct. 9-20 in Abu Dahbi.

“Think of it as the Olympics for tradespeople,” says Dennis Beaudoin, MHC dean of trades and technologies who accompanied Tendler and Fischer on their trip. “It was unbelievable. People see the pictures on the Internet and in print, and it is as impressive as the pictures.

“The temperatures were scorching, about 35 to 36 (degrees) every day with about a 90-per-cent humidity. While we were there they took us camel riding, sand-duning and we got to experience the local culture and cuisine. We also got to go see the Grand Mosque, which is very impressive. The architecture was unbelievable.”

Beaudoin says when it came to the scale of the competition Abu Dahbi definitely did not believe in half measures.

“We had 1.2 million square feet of space for the competition,” he says with awe. “It was massive, and they did a wonderful job in getting all the events together.”

According to Beaudoin, the competition itself was also fierce. And just as nerve-wracking for him and MHC coaches Keon Clift and Scott Stickel to watch as it was for Tendler and Fischer to compete in. Tendler represented Team Canada in the heavy equipment maintenance competition and Fischer in the plumbing and heating category.

“For Tanner’s competition they brought in nine tasks,” explains Beaudoin. “They were trying to test a wide array of his skills. For Justin in the plumbing competition it was a little different. He was given a set of blueprints and he had to plumb in basically a full house.”

Tendler finished sixth overall, making him one of the top young heavy duty mechanics in the world. Fischer placed a respectable 12th.

“For us here at the college, we have such a sense of pride in these two young men,” states Beaudoin. “We have incredible faculty, and our faculty saw what Tanner and Justin could do. It was then just a matter of training them. It takes an incredible amount of time and effort to get to that level.”

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