SPOTVIN

One of my old teachers (at St. Clair College) asked me to help him out at the Ontario Skills Competition in Waterloo for a couple days and let me tell you it was extremely interesting to say the least. Hey, what doesn’t sound more appealing than a day full of hundreds of grade school kids followed by a day of a million high school students all under one roof……sigh, all with no internet or cell coverage. The provincial event, which is to promote skilled trades to grade school kids as well as eight hour competitions for high school students must be a logistical nightmare. It’s held in a giant sports complex built by RIM (the people who bring you Blackberry, you’d think there would be internet coverage, or at lease cell coverage).

I was asked to help him out over the two days, talking to kids and showing them what we do….the best part is our section was called “Graphics” and “Desktop Publishing”, terms that are extremely dated, nonetheless I was very surprised to see the level of knowledge the high school competitors have with the industry software, InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator, programs I didn’t learn till I was in college. The kids rocked it, out of 24 kids, there were at least 10 who knew what they were doing and of them six who’s designs looked fantastic, they’ll certainly be design machines when done post secondary school.

It was a very long gruelling couple days but felt good to have helped out with something that helps promote my industry.