A huge and hearty congratulations go out to Kylar Bloomberg (second year – Plumber Apprentice) and Jaylon Koehn (third year – Welder Apprentice) who won silver medals at this year’s Skills Canada competition held May 29 to June 1 in Quebec City.
Bloomberg was coached by Plumbing instructor Jeremy Bridge, while Koehn was coached by Welding instructor Dave Heins.
“Both Jeremy and Dave spent numerous Saturdays training these silver medalists and the results show for themselves,” says Sheldon Anderson, dean of the School of Trades. “Their hard work paid off. Our instructors do this as volunteer hours, and they always do it without any fanfare or asking for recognition. It is their dedication to their students and commitment to the Skills movement that is a truly amazing to me.”
Bridge says all of the Lethbridge College skills competitors put in extra work and training to prepare for the provincial and national competitions. In Bloomberg’s case, he worked with Bridge and his employer, Simpson Plumbing, to prepare for the Skills Alberta at the beginning of May and then Skills Canada late in the month. Simpson Plumbing is owned by Justin Fisher, who is also a former national champion who represented Canada at World Skills in Abu Dhabi in 2017 and who also helped them train.”
Four plumbing apprentices trained for the provincial skills competition, including two from Simpson Plumbing – Bloomberg and Ryan Holm, who ended up finishing first and second at the provincial competition.
“Kylar is eager to learn and enjoys participating in the competition environment where he is able to rise to the challenge and perform well under pressure,” adds Bridge. “Kylar is a recent grad of Catholic Central High School and has only been plumbing for about 10 months. I have no doubt that his speed and proficiency will continue to increase as he prepares for future competitions. His future is bright - possibly even GOLDEN!”
Competitors can qualify for the World Skills competition every other year. This year was not a World Skills qualifying year, but Anderson notes that both Bloomberg and Koehn will meet the age eligibility to compete again next year where the first place competitor at the national Skills competition will go on to represent Canada at the world Skills competition in Shanghai in September 2026.
Bridge will attend the upcoming World Skills competition in September in Lyon, France as a member of Team Canada, working in the role as the Canadian plumbing skills expert. I received this role last summer and has been working with last year’s National Skills Competition winner to prepare them for the World Skills Competition. Bridge adds: “Canada’s competitor for plumbing at Worlds in France is from Calgary and has attended apprenticeship training at SAIT. I am working with him and his instructor to prepare him for the next level of competition!”
In addition, college instructors also provided coaching and mentoring support to local high school students who competed in the secondary division at the Skills Canada event, including: Tate McGarry of Chinook High School, who won a gold in Cabinet Making; Jeffery Van Velthuizen from Calvin Christian School who earned a silver in Carpentry; and Cordelia Yip (sixth in Photography) and Cassidy Sutherland (seventh in Aesthetics) from F.P. Walshe High School in Fort Macleod.