Absolutely. I'm very excited to talk about that.
In my experience with Skills Canada, I actually only participated in my final year of high school. I sort of got roped into it at the end. I just said okay and did it. I had a great experience with it.
I'd had the opportunity in previous years to watch some of my friends participate in such things as job skills demonstration and workplace safety. There were also things like welding and electrical installations. It was at the national competition, which I was very privileged to get to compete in, that I had the opportunity to witness a young female stand up in first place, winning gold in an area where she was the only female competitor. I believe she was another grade 12 student. She had been working all of high school. I believe it was autobody painting. She had been painting cars for three days while we were there, and she ended up winning gold.
I watched another young woman step up onto that podium. She felt the odds were against her. As the only female in that category, she defied the odds. It wasn't the only sector in which females won.
In my experience, I did public speaking while I was there. That was a pretty female-dominated section. We had one male competitor out of 10, I believe. There were a few other sections that tended to lean more toward female competitors, but I had the opportunity to see females competing in electrical, in autobody painting, in refrigeration repairs, in air conditioner repairs. I didn't even know that those were things that post-secondary students, even high school students, would be able to compete in.
I got to watch and witness the empowerment of young women because their schools were able to sponsor them, send them, and have them compete, learn, and grow. The young women were able to be pushed toward their passions regardless of where they were leading them.