After winning gold for automobile technology at Skills Alberta earlier this year, Corbin St. Jean will represent Team Alberta at the Skills Canada National competition starting this Friday, May 28.
At 20-years-old St. Jean, a student at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), has proven he is the best automobile technologist in the province enrolled in a post-secondary trades program. St. Jean's first place win was announced during a virtual awards ceremony that took place on May 13.
While St. Jean and his family watched the ceremony from home online, a lag in the Internet connection had led them to believe he hadn’t qualified for the Skills Canada competition. Then moments later the winners for his trade and division were announced, awarding St. Jean gold for his performance in the automobile skills competition.
“[It was] a roller coaster of emotion. I didn't win and then I got gold,” St. Jean told the Lac La Biche POST.
The Plamondon local who will be receiving his journeyman title soon, has been learning about vehicles and spending time at his father's mechanic shop since he was 11-years-old.
“Working in an independent shop, you get to see all varieties of vehicles. All different types of technologies old and new, you can be working on a 2021 one day and a 1973 the next,” St. Jean says. “It's just leaping from era to era and different technology. I like it from that standpoint, because you're always learning new stuff.”
Tough test
Although St. Jean was confident in the material he was tested on during the provincial competition, he admitted the pressure of competition plays a role in performance.
“It was just the timeline to do all the material. When there is lots of very precise measuring and you're on the clock, it is challenging to complete everything,” he adds.
St. Jean was originally supposed to compete on behalf of NAIT last year but due to COVID-19 the event was postponed until 2021 when organizers were able to find a way to conduct the competition safely.
This year, St. Jean and other students competing in skills competitions across the country are being supervised at the home institutions they attend. Judging panels will assess the 45 trade and technology competitors work through photos, videos and worksheets that are completed during the timed events.
If St. Jean succeeds in placing in the top two for his division at this week’s Skills Canada event, he may get the chance to travel to Shanghai, China, to compete on behalf of Canada at the international World Skills 2021 event.
“I would definitely like to go Shanghai and check it out,” says St. Jean. Although he says, he wouldn’t be surprised if the event transitioned online as well, after both provincial and national competitions have been held virtually as COVID measures have thrown a wrench into plans for most in-person events.
