Lodge 146 Hosts Welding Rodeo

Hooked On Welding

The fourth annual Calgary High School Welding Rodeo was held on March 11, 2017 at the Boilermakers Local Lodge 146.  Clifton van Boven and Keith Routhier organized this exciting event which was attended by fabrication teachers and students in the Calgary Board of Education and the Calgary Catholic School District. As soon as the event started, sparks started flying and you could feel the electricity in the air. Thirty students from seven local high school fabrication programs were immediately on task working on the first of four challenges they would have to complete throughout the day. Each team had to plan accordingly and rely on their engineering, welding and fitting skills in order to compete. You can find more information at weldingrodeo.weebly.com. The Welding Rodeo was great for students, teachers, and industry stakeholders. It gave all thirty student participants the opportunity to work in teams, and connect with students from other schools across the city that are passionate about improving their knowledge and skills in metal fabrication and welding. Being hosted at the Boilermakers Lodge and the presence of local industry stakeholders was a great opportunity to promote, bring awareness to, and show the students career opportunities that can be pursued after students have completed their high schools programs. It also allowed for teachers to network with local industry which is a great way to help programs grow.
Aside from the personal satisfaction of jobs well done, the Welding Rodeo, thanks to the generous support of industry sponsors, helped remind students that there are great rewards for being able to do skilled hands-on work. Events like the welding rodeo would not exist without the help and contribution of all the sponsors; we want to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors that gave over $7000.00 worth of prizes to the students. We want to congratulate the Career and Technology Centre team on their victory. We hope they enjoy their cowboy hats and belt buckles! Thanks to Keith Routhier from Bishop Grandin for making the belt buckles. Thanks to Ron Blazek for drafting the project plans. Thank you to Shawn Ouellette and Rob James and International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 146 for hosting this year’s event. Thank you to Carly van Boven Photography for taking the pictures of this year’s event. We would also like to thank everyone else who contributed to make this event such a success. Happy trails!