Students put carpentry skills to the test at show

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on March 15, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A group of high school students had the opportunity to put their carpentry skills to the test during the Home Garden and Leisure Show’s Who BILDS it Best competition Thursday at the Agri-food Hub and Trade Centre.
During the competition participants were tasked with building a toolbox within 75 minutes while following instructions that were not discussed or reviewed in advance and they had to use only the materials provided.
Program coordinator with CAREERS, Kristy Vassell said the competition was returning for the second year and multiple high schools from Lethbridge and surrounding areas were represented.
“It’s a live building competition, it is geared towards high school students, so we have high school students from eight different schools represented here, some of the students are also involved in the dual credit program at Lethbridge College,” said Vassell.
She said members of the community that are part of the industry would be judging them on creativity,originality and the structure itself.
“There’s also a bit of a design element to it, so they can have fun and be creative at the end and then we’ve got some wonderful prizes that have been donated,” said Vassell.
 One of the competition judges, sales marketing manager with KB Heating and Air Conditioning Chris Bruce, told the Herald it was important to have this type of competitions for high school students, to give them an opportunity to be introduced to the trades.
“Hopefully open some doors into a career path and it’s nice to see it being facilitated by events like this,” said Bruce.
He said the competitors displayed a tremendous skill set for their age, their carpentry skills were very advanced for their age and it was great to see them compete.
“They’ve done a good job at measuring, making sure the measurements are on point and they have also done a good job cutting,” said Bruce.

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