16 students from Steinbach Regional Secondary School came back from the Provincial Skills Competition with medals - eight gold, five silver, and three bronze.

Grade 10 Lia Neufeld received gold and entered the competition in the beginner hair styling category. Neufeld says the specific time to complete her assignment was probably the most challenging aspect.

"When I was doing it, everyone was done already and I was one of the only ones standing there. My bridal updo was kind of simple and my teacher, she kept telling me to do more, do more, do more. I was like, I can't, I don't have enough time, but then I did."

Grade 12 Colton Kehler received gold and says this was his second year competing in carpentry. Kehler notes his project was to construct a dog house and he decided to go above and beyond for extra points.

"There was a splayed roof that lots of the kids, competitors, didn't know how to do. I figured that was a big thing in the marking and if I got it done, then that would push me over the top."

Nationals are from May 30 to June 3 at the RBC Convention Centre in Winnipeg. Kehler says he's looking forward to doing better at nationals than he did last year.

"The big crowd got me nervous, this year I plan on focusing on my project. I messed up a couple times and then instead of leaving it, I fixed it and that cost me time. The other competitors messed up too, but they left it and kept going; they got points for finishing certain stuff."

Grade 12 Kamryn Peters competed in esthetics and skin care and received gold. Peters says she also found the specific time to complete her task a challenge.

"You had to finish everything exactly when the time was up. The practicing, I spend many hours after school and I think that really helped and solidified all my skill. Trying really hard, putting in all the effort after school, and then when I was there, just blocking everyone out and doing what I had practiced."

Peters says she's looking forward to honing her skill before nationals and see what she can accomplish.

Grade 12 Dawsyn Froese received gold in welding and says his task was to weld a mini grain elevator.

"The challenges, probably the vertical ups and stuff, it's more difficult to do. Then having to adapt because they had a different gas there, so it changed the weld profile lots. It changed the heat output, so it made it want to run and sag more."

Froese notes all the practice put into his skill before the competition helped him adjust and compensate for the change. He says the nationals are not something you get to attend everyday and is excited at the possibilities.

Grade 10 Josh Puhach competed in 2D Auto CAD and received gold. Puhach says a large part of the task was to see how well each competitor could follow instructions.

"Following instructions and putting it into a drawing. So, having to take an isometric and turning it into an orthometric production. That means taking a 3D model of something and turning it into 2D."

The other three gold medal competitors from SRSS include Lia Penner, Martin Krutsch, and Samuel Pauls. The silver medalists include Tim Gell, David Messerschmidt, Matthew Duchene, William Ledingham, and Shelby Dueck. Bronze medalists are Thomas Ware, Jana Albertin, and Danika Wiens.