Cool Under Pressure: Tyler Cherkowski's Path from Skills to the World Stage

In this episode, we sit down with Tyler Cherkowski, a passionate and talented competitor in Refrigeration and Air Conditioning. Tyler’s journey through Skills competitions has been nothing short of incredible—he won gold at the 2023 Provincial Skills Canada Competition, competed at Nationals, and represented Canada on the world stage at the 2024 WorldSkills Competition in Lyon, France.

Tyler shares how he discovered his passion for refrigeration, fascinated by the science behind cooling systems and determined to master the trade. He reflects on his once-in-a-lifetime experience competing in Lyon and the lessons he brought home from the world stage. Now, as a mentor, Tyler is shaping the next generation of skilled trades professionals, with two of his apprentices set to compete at the 2025 Provincial Skills Canada Competition. Tune in for an inspiring conversation about passion, perseverance, and the power of mentorship in the skilled trades.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to Skills and Thrills, Alberta's Trade and Tech Youth podcast, brought to you by Skills Canada Alberta. We feature alumni, volunteers, and more from the Skills community to share experiences from skills competitions and how they've impacted their careers. Join us for casual, unscripted conversations exploring the stories behind the skills and the journeys that followed. I'm Danny and I'll be your host. Let's dive in to today's episode. Today our special guest is Tyler Trikowski. Tyler competed in refrigeration and air conditioning in 2023 and took home gold at the 2023 Provincial Skills Canada Competition, later competing at the Skills Canada National Competition and on the world stage at the 2024 World Skills Competition in Lyon, France. Hi, Tyler, and thank you for coming on the podcast today. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 0:54

I'm doing very well. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Let's jump right into it. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you first got into refrigeration and air conditioning?

SPEAKER_00 1:04

So I am a fourth-year refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic. I'm actually taking my last intake at seat right now as we're speaking. I've always been uh more of a mechanically minded person. Throughout high school, I I really struggled with like more of the academic courses. You know, I was more of a math and science kid, and I just did better with my hands. And my high school in Okotokes, the Foothills compass at high school, was really fantastic in their trades programs. They had a welding program and a carpentry program that they did there, and the teachers there were really they were a lot different than the teachers I had from academic courses. They had a really large impact on me going to the trades, but it was the first time I was ever introduced to a trade. I actually first discovered skills when I was still in high school through my welding teacher. Our school per participated in that, and I did that for some time, about four semesters, and I thought I was going to be a welder during that time, and I just happened to graduate and wasn't really too sure what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to do a trade of some sort. So I was lucky enough to land a job with a residential air conditioning and heating company called Horizon Heating, and they taught me a lot of technical skills and were very open to teaching me as a young apprentice how to do the work. And just through a summer of installing air conditioning systems with my mentors, they really made an impact on me and made me really enjoy learning about refrigeration and AC because I think the science behind it is just super cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Cool. Do you mind like talking about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah, so like like I said, I was I was really uh interested in math and science as a kid. And you know, I remember first starting this job, and we'd go and install, and I just, you know, listen to what they told me to do. And then we'd start up this unit, and all of a sudden it's producing cold air. To me, that was the coolest process. It just didn't make any sense to me. Maybe really passionate and in figuring out why, how does this process work. Made me want to go to school for it and further myself going to school and understanding how pressures and temperatures are related and and why this process happens and that it's so pivotal and important in our everyday lives that you know not everyone always thinks about, right? Like how to, you know, keep your meat cold in the fridge or you know, your house cold in the summertime. And and it does we also work on the reverse aspect and the heating and stuff. Like it's such an important and vital thing in especially our Canadian culture where we have you know minus 40 winters and stuff like that. It's very uh it's something that nobody ever really thinks about until it either happens to you or you're doing a job like me.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

So um yeah, it is like super cool and like really fascinating how it works and stuff. And yeah, people don't really think about it how their fridge stays cold and stuff, so no, it's always cool to think about, and even see the competition at provincials, like really seeing people like make that happen and stuff is so cool too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Yeah, it's a process not only in in we have a very dynamic job where it's not just about pipe work and building a system that holds pressure. We learn a lot of electrical as well that most people don't know about. I find that's almost like a second part of our job. A lot of my problems are electrical issues, and then they can also stem to more mechanical issues. It's very you don't always know what you're gonna get. It can be very unique and and different. It makes the job not so repetitive. A lot of my days are are on stuff I haven't seen before or I'm not totally sure on, but we we build up a sense of problem solving from doing it, and and then when you're working on these on these issues and you're troubleshooting, you finally find what the issue is and you're 100% confident that's what it is, and fix it and it's working right. It's a real sense of accomplishment, especially when it's been a really tough, it's really cool that way.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Do you mind telling us more about your skills journey and how it led up to world skills?

SPEAKER_00 5:20

Yeah, absolutely. It started in high school with the my welding and construction teacher. That was really important in making me decide to do it because after after high school ended and I did start to do this job, it wasn't until I didn't even know refrigeration and AC would be a competition-worthy trade or competition area. I just didn't really cross my mind until I attended my first uh semester of trade school, and that's when I was approached by my first year teacher, because there's an age eligibility requirement in it, and most people in refrigeration, especially the ones that I go to school with, are it's their second career path or third career path most of the time. It's it's pretty seldom and rare for most kids to go into this at an age eligible age. Like, for example, my competition only had at most six people, and they have a tough time even filling up those slots because it's it's hard to get people that they just don't know about it, right? It's a very more of a niche industry, and so I was approached then and I was like, well, I didn't do so so hot and welding, maybe I'll give refrigeration a sh a shot. I competed provincially two years. My first year was really eye-opening. I got fourth out of six, and the difference between a first-year apprentice and a third-year apprentice was staggering, right? Like I I never got mine running, I never got the wiring completed and all of it. It was it was a really eye-opening experience that way. I felt a ton of accomplishment for what I did, and it was really rewarding becoming fourth place in the provincial competition. It made me really want to do better. So I knew I had another year left in me to go and do it again. Went back to school again for my second year and approached my teachers about doing it again because I was still age eligible. They were like absolutely 100% on board. Back to the second year, I participated. The project was the same as last year, so I had a lot more confidence in what I was doing, and I had a more clear plan on how to actually achieve what we were trying to complete there, and went through it, didn't really have a lot of issues at all. It went pretty smooth sailing, and and I got it completed, and I think I probably had about an hour left remaining, which is which was fantastic because a lot of the time in the refrigeration competition, nothing really happens until the last hour when everyone's rushing to get everything done, because your whole process that you gotta do is you gotta complete your pipe, your pipe work, make sure that it's fully sealed and pressure tested. Gotta pull a vacuum in it and get rid of all the non-condensible gases, and then as well do your electricals. So there's a lot of steps involved before you can actually even go to turn the thing on and you know make it safe and operational. It was pretty fantastic knowing that I achieved that goal, and I actually didn't even get to go on the stage for my medal because I had to drive back for work the next day.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah. It was a little fun that way, but it was it was a fantastic experience provincially, and then that's when I found out I get to go and move on to the national level there.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

So yeah, that's awesome. So, how was that?

SPEAKER_00 8:37

The national level?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Well, that was an experience. It's really cool to see uh the rest of Canada come together and and do these competitions, and people understand the same concept. Bigger venue, more people, higher profile, and the competitions harder. It was uh an incredible experience. I made a ton of friends provincially, but I still talk to. It was a fantastic experience nationally as well. And I got to go to a different city in a different province. I made a lot of memories from that. And that set the stage for me to be a part of Team Canada and uh compete in France the next year. That was an insane realization and opportunity because I didn't actually win my competition, I came fourth in it, but because of the age eligibility in other provinces, they don't um enforce it. I was next in line.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

How was it going there and preparing for the competition in a different country?

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Well, the whole year was was quite a memorable experience when I first got chosen in Winnipeg to go. It was like, okay, now what? I I had a ton of opportunities, and and my my employer was so fantastic in making it stress-free for me. Uh the company I worked for is Gateway Mechanical. And so when I first found out they were very supportive, we were going to Montreal for a couple days to have like a little bit of an organization, like meeting everyone and some team building and and how the year was gonna go. When I was in Montreal, I got asked by Sean Thorson if I would come to Ottawa and meet some members of Parliament and and have an experience with them in regards to skills. And even just like that, to see how you know my little trade has become into this a bigger thing of having young people have a little bit of a opinion on on their first careers was was pretty cool to see. And and then throughout the year, I got to go to Halifax with my trainer and do a little bit of training out there with a representative from one of our manufac or a manufacturer, and I went to Quebec City for last year's national to practice, and then I went to the United Kingdom, Birmingham, and did a practice competition there with uh the UK and China, and that was really eye-opening to see how the other uh countries view our trade and regulations that led up to to France, but all these little things in preparation was was it felt like a lot, and and it could have been you know even more, but it was just there was a ton of stuff that happened up leading to it that I won't forget.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

How different was it to prepare for worlds versus nationals?

SPEAKER_00 11:25

Nationals was more of a wing-in-it kind of thing, doing my best, and then it's like, oh, now this is more serious, right? Like there's a lot more not that a provincial or a national medal doesn't mean anything, but I didn't feel much pressure. I was just there to do my best, and and it kind of worked out in a way where now I was in this position that I wasn't really expecting myself to be in, you know, a little bit of a fish out of water kind of experience. Now I was expected to do these training regiments. I had an expert out in Halifax, Brian, who was there to monitor and help me learn new techniques and monitor how I'm doing my job so that I'm preparing in a way that is beneficial to me. All right, like we had monthly, weekly meetings regarding like the because I had a job full-time uh preparing up to this, and and we kind of used that as a way of monitoring how I was performing and things and and issues I was dealing with and troubleshooting behaviors, and and you know, I did online training for different flammable refrigerants, and it was there was now I needed to have a little bit of accountability into how I was preparing for this and to you know not make it a waste wasted opportunity where it's just now we're winging it, but actually have an opportunity of doing well and and getting a medal and all that. So when I went, England was a really eye-opening experience for me, and it was super beneficial to my my France journey. When I went to England, everything is different over there than how we do it here, and it's and those competitions are based on the European standard and the rest of the world. It was difficult to work on a different power grid and understand how that works, and then they have special flammable refrigerants that aren't even available in Canada yet, and having to it it's it's not easy to make a mindset of, you know, this is what I typically work on. Now we gotta move to something else here and and really focus on making sure that I'm following the proper protocols for that. I remember even just the measurement scales, like here in Canada, we talk in Fahrenheit and SI, right, for pressure. Whereas over there, I'm expected to know Celsius and kilopascals, and and it's just it's it's totally different from my typical work environment, and that made it uh extra challenging in that way.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

Yeah, it's really interesting to see what other countries do instead. We all have different rules and all that kind of stuff and just how we do things and different trades and stuff. So um is there anything, yeah, is there anything you learned um from another country or competitor that helped you refine your skills?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

Yeah, but I made a good friendship with the UK competitor Luke. He helped me out a lot in understanding, you know, the proper protocols of of what needs to happen in these competitions, because his expert was the chief expert of our competition area. So not necessarily anything in regards to what I was doing wrong, but you know, better techniques and how to handle things and how to properly use their equipment. Because, like I said, it was totally foreign to me. And that's why like that that England trip was such a beneficial experience to me going into France. It was just learning how to work with those other materials and other protocols on how to, you know, me even just stripping wire is totally different here than over there. It felt like I was a first-year apprentice again working on tools I never worked on before. So that was like a really fantastic skill to learn. And I learned how to handle myself under pressure. I remember because we it was like a mini competition that we did. It was uh like an exhibition. I remember going into it and I was already struggling pretty big on it, and we tried to make it as realistic as possible to the France thing. It was hot in there, it was like I think it was summertime that we were there, and the event center was just cooking. And when you're already stressed out in an environment like that, it just makes it ten times worse. I remember building that at a contraption, and there was sweat just pouring off my face like I've never had before. Like not in not in Winnipeg, not in Edmonton. It was just like pure like stress, right? And and I was wiping my face, I had my gloves on and everything, and I was getting scratch marks on my forehead and stuff because I just I was so stressed out, and it just was making it so much harder. And I remember the Chinese expert, like, because they're what they watch you, like it's like someone watching you do your job makes it even more stressful, and they watch you like hawks. And he's looking at me, right? And I'm just uh just a mess. He comes into my booth and he stops me, he hands me a water bottle, and he says, Calm down, just relax, is what he kept telling me. He said, relax, relax. I took a moment and a little breather and felt so much better, right? And and you know, I've I've used this that technique in you know areas of my life where they have been stressful, and and it really shows that when you are in those in those places, you can handle it, bite-sized pieces. You can't just think everything over and be overwhelmed by it, and and you really gotta work towards like your goal may seem pretty pretty outlandish, but if you just slowly chip at it, hopefully you get there, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:59

Yeah, just one step at a time.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

Yeah. Can you talk about your mentor a little bit more and how he helped you prepare for world skills?

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Yeah, so I I kind of had two mentors. Typically, we get a trainer and an expert, and my trainer happened to be my third year and second year instructor, Tyson Frank and Paul. They are very knowledgeable on refrigeration teaching at our institute. We worked with my expert Brian, who was out in Halifax, like I said, and and he uh was the one who was giving us all the information on on what we should be expecting and little like tidbits on things that we don't necessarily do in the industry and and how we need to start incorporating them into what I'm you know working on. And when I was in the next year provincial competition that came up and I went there for practice, Brian unfortunately couldn't make it. So we had a different project that I was supposed to complete by myself. And without Brian being there, Tyson really stood up to the plate and we were able to make something that was close enough to our project. There's a lot of unforeseen things that you don't always know until you actually go and do it. It was a little frustrating that way, but we were able to work out you know a process and and and just dealing with the stress of it, and you know, things aren't working right, and and how do we how do we make this move on from now? That was really valuable going to France, because I remember even asking about being there in France, asking about well, how does this work? And they're like, You should know how it works. They don't give you much, right? It's all about you being the competitor, right? So being able to have that problem solving and having someone that can tell me, you know, you're doing good, just we're gonna keep moving at it, and and we'll get there was was really uh helpful and and he was fantastic and you know gave up a lot of his family time to to do meetings with me and meet up at the institution and and gave up his lunch period time so that we could have this kind of experience together, right? So he was they were they were both fantastic and and definitely like people that I will always look up to in my life.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, it always makes it so much better when we have really amazing mentors to help us through it.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

So at World Skills Leon, did you get to walk around and kind of see like how other competitors were doing their project?

SPEAKER_00 19:37

Yeah, absolutely. My competition area was kind of split into half days with how they had it, so I I got a lot of time to go around the venue area and it was a massive venue. I mean, you could walk around for you know a couple hours easily looking at everything, you know, things that I wouldn't even expect to be competitions, especially a lot of the the computer science ones. But it was very interesting to see you know the different degrees from different places in the world and how they're all moving towards the same goal in different ways with with walking around there. It was just it felt like everybody was kind of in a the same boat, which was kind of nice too, you know, especially talking with a lot of the other Team Canada people. We were all nervous about things, and I could see watching them do their competition that they were also struggling with and having stress, and it felt like I felt better about myself that I wasn't the only one here having issues, right? And that's and that was that's the point of these competitions, it's to to challenge you and stuff. So it was it was it was fantastic to walk around and see the different, you know, skill trades and and and people doing well in them as well. It's it's quite a quite an art to see someone doing well in it, right? Like it's it's it's pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Yeah. I mean these competitions are so cool because people are like honing their craft for like years, and then they go do these competitions, and it's it's just so cool to see them so passionate about it. And yeah, I can't imagine what it's like on a world skills level, like an international level, of seeing people from all kinds of countries and stuff, so that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 21:19

Do you have like a favorite moment from World Skills Leon?

SPEAKER_00 21:24

I made a lot of fun memories. Um, the competition was great and all, and definitely a highlight of it, but even just going there and you know, I I made a lot of friends across Canada, and it was really quite sad to see them go, and like in order to organize it all again with everyone would be so difficult to do. But I mean they took us on kind of like a field trip there with electrical kind of competitors, and and and then we you know we went out for nights to go for dinner with everyone, and and just like that camaraderie was quite nice to see. And one of our friends and other teammates, he brought a little camera, quite a fancy one, and like must have taken 2,000 photographs of all of us together and just having a blast there, and that like I think that's probably my favorite moment about it all. It was just like the silly little things that man, I look back at those photos and I'm like, I I'm laughing at myself, just doing it, right? And that was I think that's probably the highlight of it all. It was just the little moments of you know, like I said, going out with everybody, sightseeing, and even like the opening ceremonies and stuff when we're all in our our fancy suits, it was really a fun experience to have with a bunch of your friends now.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Yeah, yeah, the the opening was so cool to watch. People listening, if you haven't seen the opening to World Skills, you gotta watch it next time uh in 2026 because the opening is so cool, like how every country comes out and they're holding their flag and everything. It's it's amazing. It's so cool.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

Oh, yeah, it was a performance without a doubt. Right? It's it's pretty amazing how many uh people that get involved in all of it.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

So yeah, it's it's like it's yeah, it's a performance, that's for sure. It's so cool to see just everyone from different countries and all that. So really cool. Highly recommend watching I think the next one is Shanghai in 2026. So, how did the competition compare to what you expected?

SPEAKER_00 23:32

I thought that the competition was a little bit easier than things that I trained for, which was great. It was kind of like a double-edged sword that way, because then everybody thinks it's a little bit easier. Um especially in my trade, a lot of the stuff that gets pushed into it is that I typically don't do in the field, is is a lot of pipe bending, and especially the very precise measurements. Like our our tolerances were within two millimeters. And I mean, I don't know about you, but two millimeters to me is like whether your head's over something a little bit more or the other. It's it's a very, very tight tolerance, and so it it felt easy, but it was hard in the way where you had to be perfect with these things. There wasn't really a lot of wiggle room, and even just the processes of of going through it, like I said, it was all equipment that I've never really worked with before. Like they had a whole typically I work with an analog manifold set, and it's like pretty easy to see numbers in it, whereas this one, it's all state-of-the-art technology that they have working there, right? Like it's supposed to show that this is the future of of these skilled trades and everything like that. So not only am I trying to perform with this stuff, it's also you know, showing it off, and it's and it's new. Like I definitely experienced a lot of challenges that way trying to figure out how to make this work, and like I said before, they don't really give you a manual on how to put certain fittings together that you typically just you know, when I'm at work, I just they're all the same, you know. So it it felt easier, but it definitely was not an easy feat compared because everybody's getting judged on the same score.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Yeah. Were there any big challenges that you faced during the competitions?

SPEAKER_00 25:21

I did have quite a large large challenge there. Yeah in France. Yeah. I uh my competition I thought went really well for the first uh I think it was four days of competition. So the for the first two days, it went really well in my competition. And in in the process of of building a fridge, you need to uh in these competitions you have to get signatures on different processes, and you can only move on to these processes when you complete another one. And so on one of my processes, my vacuum test, and this is all an hour before the competition is ending, because you gotta do your pressure test, vacuum test, electrical, and you gotta start commissioning it all within like an hour, because they they give you a very specific amount of time to do everything, and if you're wasting minutes, then it it's a tough thing. So on on my vacuum test, I will I unfortunately didn't have enough time to complete another one, and and unfortunately at that time I I couldn't really do much about it, and because of that, I wasn't able to get other points in other areas, and and that was really quite heartbreaking, um, in all honesty, uh, of doing it. And it was tough to kind of get over that fact that you know what is there gonna be problems in these competitions? Absolutely, right? Do I know that I did a good job on it? 100%, right? And sometimes that's just kind of how the world works in that way, where you try your best and and you know, could there have been things done in in preparation that that could have maybe helped with that? Absolutely, but you kind of just gotta take it on the chin where that's that's the reality of it, right? So I didn't, like I said, I didn't get the points for that, and it made it it made it there wasn't any more time to continue on, so it was definitely it was hard to do it that way. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:20

Yeah. Oh, I'm so sorry about that. That sounds just like That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

It happens.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Yeah, yeah, it happens, and yeah, it's just still like a great experience for you, and yeah, just doing broad skills is amazing, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:34

I I would do it again in a heartbeat, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:36

Yeah. What are the biggest lessons you've learned from competing at that level internationally?

SPEAKER_00 27:42

The whole experience definitely taught me to take a step back from things. The only way you're gonna perform mentally is if you can get yourself back into a state where you're all together, where you're not so worried about other things, and and and like I said, going to the UK and having that instructor tell me to relax, it still resonates in my head to this day, right? And and even just going to that to the world level, you know, it kind of proves to myself that I can do exceptional things if, you know, I try, right? Like you can't if you're just gonna, you know, whatever with anything, then you can only expect to get the whatever results, you know. And it kind of taught me that you can have a little bit of a determination and you can achieve some pretty great things. So give me a little bit more confidence in myself that way. That was uh nice to see.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, those those are amazing lessons to learn, and I feel like it'll help you throughout your career now.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

So yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Yeah. Do you have any advice for young apprentices or students considering competing at skills?

SPEAKER_00 28:51

I would say if you get given the opportunity to go and do this, you should absolutely take it, you know. Worst thing that happens, you get last. The best thing that happens, you go to a different country and compete in the world level. So if you don't try, you won't ever know what could happen. And I think that's you know, a lot of things in life where you know, whether you're concerned about uh, you know, like a job interview or something like that. I think you kind of just have to see opportunities in your life, and you know, this is a fantastic one that is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Like, like I said, there's an age limit on this. So if there's a young apprentice that gets approached to do this, I would say there's not really a good reason to not do it. Um and as far as in the competition field, you kind of just got to give it your best shot and see what becomes of that. And if you have multiple opportunities to compete in it, then I say you could strive to be as best as you should and can be.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Yeah, that's I mean, that's great advice. Yeah, I mean, like go for it if it's if it's a thing that's being pr presented to you and you have a mentor and everything, a trainer.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

It also looks great on your resume to do a competition like this, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:04

It absolutely does. I I can experience I've I can atone to that firsthand.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

I wanted to ask too, after competing at WorldSkills, have you had like any other job offers or anything?

SPEAKER_00 30:15

No, I I'm not really looking for anyone else to go work for right now. My my company, Gateway Mechanical, there, they've were extremely supportive in the time off that I took to go and do these, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without them. Um they like I I probably took off you know close to a month of working time to go and do this. And in the refrigeration field, if you're not running a van and and and doing that, like they're not making as much money as they could be making. Yeah um so I don't plan on on leaving them because they and and there's still such a I I still have so much to learn with them as well. I mean this this industry is always growing. I think I've I heard it's like the second you know largest technology innovator besides automotive and in what is coming down the pipe for you know my industry and what they're building. So I don't I don't think I've stagnated and and and I think I kind of owe it to them to you know build a relationship with them because they've helped me out so much with this.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Yeah, I mean it sounds like they're super supportive. So if you have a great company to work for, why not just stay, right?

SPEAKER_00 31:28

I've met I've met a couple a lot of industry leaders and stuff like that that I built relationships with, but yeah, as far as I you know, I I still want to be in the field, I still want to work on the tools, so they they're not really looking for anyone else, no.

SPEAKER_01 31:41

And would you ever want to be a mentor for someone that's competing at skills in the future?

SPEAKER_00 31:46

I kind of already am, actually. They oh really? Yeah, the um like I said, my company's extremely supportive of this program. And we there already is, or one of my co-workers who's a year younger than me, Hudson, he uh he won first last year at the provincial competition, and he's planning on doing it again this year to go nationally and then hopefully to the world level, like me. And there's another young apprentice in my company that's doing the same thing, so I've kind of taken on a little bit of a mentorship role with them. Oh, that's awesome. To try and help them out and get to the same level that I did.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

Are any of them competing this year?

SPEAKER_00 32:25

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:26

Oh awesome! Oh, that'll be so cool. Are you gonna be there like for a day to check it out?

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Or hopefully, if I can if I can do it, I uh I'm gonna try to be uh awesome.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

I mean, yeah, just being in the environment of it is so cool.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

So yeah, I think a lot of people when they when they start to do it, uh uh, I'm sure you've seen it a lot too, where they do these competitions and they kind of stick around and continue to come back over time. I I mean it's it's a pretty fantastic way to get young people involved in in these jobs that aren't so you know, you go to school and you hear about becoming a lawyer, a doctor, or whatever, but you never hear about becoming a mechanical insulator or refrigeration mechanic or any one of those jobs that pay very well for what they are and that opportunity. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah, no, it's it's so cool to see, and and yeah, a lot of people just stick around because it's such a cool atmosphere and promoting the trades and tech and all that stuff. So 100%. What's your favorite thing about your trade?

SPEAKER_00 33:28

I really like the science behind it all. It's it's super fascinating to learn. If I mean, if if someone doesn't know what refrigeration is, just watching a little YouTube video on it is pretty cool stuff, and and being able to actually put it into practical knowledge is is fantastic. And just just the science behind it I find is really, really intriguing. And then the fact that it's also there's a lot of variety in my in my days, right? Like, you know, most days I find that it's it's they're always different, you know. A lot of the days can be I don't know what I'm doing this day, but I guess we'll go, you know, one day I'll be working on a rooftop, the other time I'll be in a you know, grocery store rack room. I've gone to some pretty cool places just in my job already. I I remember in southern Alberta here there's uh a reservoir called Ghost Lake, and they have a dam there. And I remember one of my service calls was at the dam, and I got to drive across the thing and then go down to their operations center to fix a unit heater. And they gave me a tour of the dam, actually.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Oh really?

SPEAKER_00 34:37

Which was super cool to see, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Yeah, that's so cool. Wow. Yeah, you get to see like a lot of cool things. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Yeah, and there's like things like like what you'd never expect to. Um, you know, I've been to blood banks where they they freeze plasma or you know, they need coolers for these donations and stuff like that. It's like kind of just it's different, you know?

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

Um, and there's probably some of them even forgetting her now, but you find yourself in strange places. Definitely, which is that's which is kind of interesting. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

It makes the job more interesting, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Right. I wanted to ask too, is there like a cool fact you have about refrigeration and air conditioning that you would want to share?

SPEAKER_00 35:19

I I guess so. I think a cool fact for me about it is is like how long it's been around for. Like it's been around for according to Google, artificial refrigeration began in the mid-1750s. 1750.

SPEAKER_01 35:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

It was 1834, the first working vapor compression system was built.

SPEAKER_01 35:40

That's crazy. Long time ago.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

Pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Wow. That's so cool. Well, do you have anything else you'd like to add?

SPEAKER_00 35:51

I I guess like I'd I'd like to thank Skills Alberta. They've been fantastic to me. You know, I made a fantastic relationship with with a lot of those people that work for them. And you know, they were very supportive of me and believed in me and everything like that. And and it was it was a really amazing experience once in a lifetime that I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

So yeah, that's amazing. I mean, it sounds amazing. Your skill story is so cool just from you know high school all the way up until you know your experience at World Skills Leon. It's it's an amazing story, and I'm I'm so excited that you got to do that. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

It's been a journey, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 36:32

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your skill story today.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Not a problem.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

And thank you everyone for tuning in. We will see you in the next one. Thanks again for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed today's episode and gained some valuable insights from our amazing guests. If you'd like to learn more about Skills Canada Alberta and our wide range of programs, be sure to check out our website at skillsalberta.com. From bringing skills right to your classroom to taking part in our competition programming, there are countless ways to get involved. And don't forget to follow us on social media at SkillsAlberta to stay up to date on our latest episodes and events. See you in the next one.