Congratulations to our Skills Alberta Competitors!
TIAA Skills Report
March 2023
It looks like Skills Alberta 2023 is going to go ahead as planned. Many of the impediments of the past are hopefully behind us and we can once again plan and participate in events as we once had. I for one am looking forward to meeting with and experiencing the crowds this event brings.
The Skills Alberta Competition is a great event that will happen on May 3rd and 4th and allows thousands of people to experience different areas of the trades by watching competitions and participating in hands-on activities. The Mechanical Insulation pavilion allows spectators to watch Insulation Apprentices apply insulation and finishing materials as it would be done in the field. There is also a Try-A-Trade aspect where the participants can use materials commonly found in the insulation trade and build a project using the tools of the trade. In this way we can increase awareness for the Insulation Trade and garner interest in the career of Mechanical Insulation.
This event will give us the opportunity to present our trade to future insulation trades people looking for a career. Many of the people attending this event will be to young to become insulators right away, but if we give them the option of becoming an insulator now, they may become contributors to our trade in the future.
This year we are going to have a new Try-A-Trade project. We are going to make Water coozies using Armaflex insulation and Armaflex 520 adhesive. The students will cut a sheet of insulation to the specified size and cut a circle using a circle cutter, then glue the pieces together. We will also provide them with a bottle of water for the coozie. Members of TIAA have suggested that this may be an opportunity for TIAA to provide the water bottles with a TIAA sticker on the bottle to promote the organization. I would like to discuss this option further with the membership.
We have six competitors lined up and are just finalizing the registration details for their participation.
I would like to have everyone mark their calendars for this event and come to visit and experience this for yourselves.
Thank You, Paul Blinzer
Insulator Apprenticeship Programs
The Insulator Apprenticeship programs offered at SAIT and NAIT ready apprentices to enter into their careers as Insulators. TIAA values the training and partnership that both programs bring to the Alberta insulation trade and is proud to continually support these programs.
