Trio of Assiniboine students strike gold at Skills Manitoba. 12 reach the podium at yearly competition

Three students from Assiniboine have struck gold at the 27^th annual Skills Manitoba competition and will move on to compete at Skills Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan in May 2025.

“Skills Manitoba offers students the chance to put their classroom learning into real-world practice,” said Jim DeGraeve, Acting Dean of Trades and Team Assiniboine lead. “We look forward to this event every year—it fills the college with pride to see our students thrive in this environment, and It's inspiring to witness the growing number of participants, medalists, and those advancing to represent our college on the national stage.”

Throughout the province, 475 high school, post-secondary and apprenticeship students competed in 42 skilled trades and technology contests at this year’s Skills Manitoba event and the gold medal winners will form Team Manitoba to compete against their peers at the Skills Canada Competition to be held in Regina in May 2025.

Twenty-two Assiniboine students participated in eleven competitions at Skills Manitoba. Among those participants, 12 earned gold, silver or bronze medals in their respective competitions.

“It feels great! I never thought I’d find myself competing for my studies. But I’m glad I was able to come out on top,” said second-year Web Technologies gold medalist Graham McGill. “Skills Manitoba is a real challenge. It’s meant to be an impossible task by design, but you sort of lose sight of that in the heat of the competition. It’s easy to let the project scope and the time limit pressure overwhelm you, but this is all about getting out the best you can with what time you have, function usually wins over form most of the time,” McGill said. “Overall, it was a great and memorable experience.”

The competition is grounded in the philosophy of celebrating student excellence, strengthening industry connections, and ensuring training reflects current workforce demands. Each event is designed and judged by seasoned industry professionals and educators, bringing real-world standards and expectations into the competition arena.

For gold medal winner Mathew Penner, he shared his excitement on being able to represent Assiniboine on the provincial and national stage, “I think this competition is a good way to show other people what the trades can look like, and Skills is a good way to get more people interested in the field.” Penner graduated from Assiniboine from the Construction Electrician program and is now working on his red seal apprenticeship in electrical.

Rounding out the trio of gold medal recipients was Brooke Heaman. She is a second-year student in the Digital Art & Design program at Assiniboine and found the perfect balance of practice leading to perfect at Skills Manitoba, “I knew coming into the competition what I was capable of, but I wasn’t sure whether I could do it in the time allowed,” she shared. “In preparation, I would model 3D renderings over and over and refine my process. I then translated that to the competition where I was able to complete the task in the allotted time, even building in a bit of time for refinement at the end of the day.”

The Skills competitions are important to highlighting the growing shortage of skilled trades workers in Canada, with major industry associations forecasting moderate to severe gaps in the workforce over the next five years. These events help raise awareness among students, educators, and parents about the many benefits of post-secondary education in trades and technology—such as competitive wages, strong job security, and career flexibility.

For more information on Skills Manitoba, and a full list of winners visit: https://skillsmanitoba.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2025-Skills-Manitoba-Skills-Competition-Results.pdf