Steven Heidel, grandson of Charlotte Gillatt of Maymont and of Robert (Bob) and Joyce Heidel from rural North Battleford, can count himself among the best in the world.
The 20-year-old computer science major at the University of Saskatchewan left for London, England at the end of September to compete in the World Skills competition Oct. 5 to 8. He earned a Medallion of Excellence in the information technology solutions for business category, where he earned a fourth place finish with 529 points.
Singapore earned 547 points for gold, and Brazil and Korea tied for the silver medal with. No bronze was awarded because of the tie.
Awards of Excellence recognize scores of 500 or more points out of a possible 600.
Trade students compete in a wide range of categories from construction to hairdressing. Overall the Canadian team earned three bronze and 17 Medallions of Excellence. Approximately 500 young people from 40 countries competed. Canada had competitors in 31 of the 34 categories.
Steven described his trade as "designing applications for businesses using the Microsoft office tools. We have four days and they give us a case study of a particular business that has a need of some sort of system, whether it be a billing system, an accounting system, a tracing system for employees or what have you, and we develop something to fulfill that need."
Steven has been putting in a lot of training time. Since he won the Skills Canada competition last year in Waterloo, Ont., he has been working with Bev Demmert of Warman, a program trainer with SIAST. He trains for several hours each day going through past competitions and other national competitions in order to practise.
When the competition was just around the corner, Steven said he was ready. His skills have improved since Waterloo and, while the 21 other competitors will be a challenge, Steven said he is ready and if someone else has prepared more then they deserve to win, but he feels that he has put in all that he can into this. There would be some challenges. Jetlag would slow him down and the spectators would be a distraction as 200,000 people were expected to come and watch the events.
Steven has competed in Skills Canada competitions only twice, once as a high school student from Carlton Comprehensive High in Prince Albert and once in the post-secondary category, both times walking away with the top prize. Steven encourages any high school student who is interested in the skills competitions to get involved, adding most schools know something about the program and Skills Canada is a really supportive organization.
Steven, along with 34 other Canadian competitors, left Sept. 30. The other Saskatchewanian in the competition is Kaylyn Mack of Regina who will be competing in hair styling.
A potluck supper and entertainment evening was held in Sonningdale Oct. 8 to celebrate the birthdays of Dwight Hemmerling and Benny Stenerson who both turned 60. Happy birthday wishes to both Dwight and Benny. Entertainment for the evening was The Long Road Home.
Booby Boot Camp girls from Maymont would like to thank everyone who donated money and attended events held by the girls for Run for the Cure; these donations were made from Maymont and surrounding areas. Without your help, they wouldn't have been able to raise $7,343.64. Thank you again, everyone. The girls did a run in Saskatoon Oct. 2 and were awarded the Women's Team Challenge Award 2011 as the top fundraising women's team. Way to go, girls. Congratulations.
The Maymont Hotel will be having a roast beef supper Oct. 15 starting at 5 p.m. and going until 6:30. Supper will be $15. For a nice evening out, have supper and then join us at the Legends.
Sharron United Church will be holding a fall supper Oct. 16 at the Maymont Central School gym: adults $10; children 5-12, $4.50; preschool free. Hope to see you there.
Howard Bulmer celebrates his 80th birthday Oct. 15. Happy birthday, Howard.
Happy anniversary to Dan and Vivian Seib from all your friends in Maymont. The Seibs are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.
Maymont Senior Center is having a soup and sandwich lunch Oct. 24 in the Maymont Seniors Centre. Everyone is welcome.
Saskia and Darrel will hold a CD release concert in Maymont at the Maymont Memorial Hall Nov. 12, 7 p.m. Tickets are $15. Please call Carol or Mel at 389-2440 or Mary Carpentier at 389-4200. Part of the proceeds will go for hall upkeep and continued renovations.
What exactly is a backup band? It is a musical ensemble that accompanies an artist at a live performance or on a recording. Our backup band for our fundraiser Legends 2, is Jon Sloan, Wilf Rice, Doreen Duchnitski and Dale Paulow. Sorry, Dale, I never mentioned your name the last time I put in the names of the band. Thank you all for helping us with this event.
Allan and Edna Carnahan represented the Fielding Wildlife Federation at the Region 2 meeting in Dorintosh, Oct. 1.
