Calmar Secondary student wins gold at National Skills Competition
Over the years, Calmar Secondary School’s machining program has developed a well-earned reputation for excellence through their frequent participation in provincial and national skills competitions. Banners are proudly displayed in the school’s common area to honour students who have placed in the competitions, and they have gone on to pursue meaningful careers in the skilled trades.
This year, grade 10 student Adam Peterson had a chance to compete in the 2024 Skills Canada National Competition, held from May 30-31 in Québec City. It had been a long road for him; to get there he had to win gold at provincial skills competition.
“It’s pretty unheard of to have a 15 year-old even make it past the provincials, with all of the other competitors who are much older,” said Calmar Secondary CTS instructor and team coach Darren Roth. “This is especially true when we’re competing with students from schools in central Canada and the east coast – they’re all 18 and 19 years old, are more experienced and have spent a lot more time on the machines, and that’s usually a bit of a disadvantage for us.”
Adam competed in the precision machining category at the secondary level, where the students demonstrated a number of different skills when working on mills and lathes. “It’s kind of random,” he said. “You have to do a metal lathe and a piece on a milling machine on different parts that have lots of features on them. So you have to demonstrate that you can do all these various operations.”
Adam felt a bit intimidated as a 15 year-old competing against older teens. “Yeah, it was definitely a bit high pressure,” he said. “I originally went there to just enjoy the experience and see how well I did, but apparently I did pretty good.” Adam ended up making his school and community very proud by winning a gold medal at the competition.
“Because Adam is so young, before we left I told him that I had zero expectations – it was just a learning experience,” said Roth. “I also told him that when you’re in grade 11 or grade 12, then we’ll get serious about being an actual contender for medals.”
“Apparently, that was the right speech to give,” he grinned.
“I was definitely a little nervous because I wasn’t trying to get gold or anything,” said Adam. “My nerves weren’t too bad, but when I heard my name called it was pretty special to be able to walk up there and hold my first true gold medal on the podium.” He smiled broadly.
According to Roth, that was the first time he has ever seen someone so young take the top spot in all the times the Calmar Secondary team has gone to the nationals. “It’s an awesome result for Adam and for our school, and hopefully we can just keep building on this and then have a few more good years,” said Roth.
“There’s not a lot of really good machining programs in Alberta; there’s probably three or four programs like ours,” he added. “In Quebec there are probably 20 or 30 programs that are bigger than ours; they’re all super competitive and they’re all going for provincials. To finally beat them was very validating; it means we’re doing it right.”
With a big win under his belt this early in his career, Adam is definitely looking to continue competing. “I want to continue in this trade and look forward to an apprenticeship,” he said. “I’m also thinking of trying out the Computer Numerical Control machine, and if I get good at it I’ll have a chance to compete at the World Skills competition… and I’d really like to try that.”