PROGRAMUPDATESUMMER 2011

Designed and printed in the SIAST Graphic Communications program located in Regina, SK

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MENTORSHIPPRAIRIE VALLEY SCHOOL DIVISION

PROJECT

Balcarres High School Student and SIAST Graphic Communications student Kemp Nguyen working on poster design.

SIAST Graphic Communications students mentoring Prairie Valley School Division high school students

On April 19, 2011, the students and instructors of the Graphic Com‑

munications program, partnered with a number of Balcarres Community School students to help design and print Role Model posters. The students from Balcarres brought images they had taken during an earlier photo shoot, along with their ideas, and worked side‑by‑side with the Graphic Communica‑tions program to create their

posters. The partnership was an incredibly rewarding experience for the Graphic Communications program, providing students and instructors with an excellent op‑portunity to volunteer their ex‑pertise, as well as providing high school students with a hands‑on experience in post secondary ed‑ucation. The following is a letter received from Michele Schwab, one of the Balcarres Community School teachers responsible for establishing the partnership.

I wanted to send you this note to thank you for one of the most rewarding teaching days I have

ever had. The potential of this continuous partnership is endless. This mentoring experience was amazing for our students, and I think rewarding for yours also. It was great to see the sharing of stories, information, culture and skills. Your students were able to teach our students new tools in Photoshop; plus, it gave our students their first opportunity to work on Apple computers. Your students were fantastic teachers and should be commended for the time and energy they gave to this project and our students.

For some of our students, the thought of going on to a post sec‑ondary institution is both fearful and daunting. The opportunity to see your program first hand has opened so many doors for our students. They now see that SIAST is a friendly, welcoming place, with caring instructors who take pride in supporting stu‑dents. One of our students com‑

Letter from Michele Schwab On Behalf of the Staff and Students of Balcarres Community School

ABOVE: Balcarres High School Student and SIAST Graphic Communications student Janelle Pilon working on poster design.

LEFT: Completed student poster designs.

mented, “I feel so comfortable here.” You and your students made that happen. More im‑portantly, our students are now considering Graphic Communi‑cations as a career alternative.

The posters themselves are incredible! The pride our stu‑dents experienced, and are still experiencing today, in having created those posters cannot be measured. The posters are receiving rave reviews from our staff and community partners. The kids can’t stop showing them off and smiling ear to ear.

Heather, I thank you for the opportunity you have given our school, our students and myself. Who would have thought that a panicked ques‑tion of, “Can you help me, I have these posters to make…” on a tour of SIAST could turn into something so wonderful.

Sincerely, Michele Schwab

SIAST Graphic Communications hosted the provincial Offset Printing and Graphic Design Competitions this year and sent two students to compete at the National Competition in Quebec City

Mike Holmes, star of Holmes on Homes, speaking at the opening ceremonies at the Skills Canada National Competition held in the Pepsi Centre in Quebec City on June 1, 2011.

Skills Canada is the only Olympic‑style, multi‑trade and technology competition

for young students and apprentic‑es in the country. Skills Canada Saskatchewan coordinates an Annual Skills Competition to be held in April. This year SIAST Wascana Campus, SIAST Palliser Campus and local high schools will host this. Through commu‑nication with school divisions, post‑secondary institutions and apprentice students, participants are encouraged to compete in a 1 ½ day event striving for Gold and the opportunity to advance to the Skills Canada National Competition hosted by various provinces in Canada. This year the national competition was be held in Quebec City from June 1–4. At the provincial level the Graphic Communications program hosted the Skills Can‑ada Saskatchewan competition

on April 14–15 for the Graphic Design and Offset Printing. Competitors from the Second‑ary and Post Secondary level came from all over the province in Graphic Design. Students also competed in an Offset Printing competition at a Post Secondary level. Industry, family members and the public were invited to come and support the competi‑tors, while Industry and instruc‑tors judged the event. Graphic Communications student, Mitch Larsen was the gold medalist in both the Graphic Design and Offset Printing competitions but was unable to attend the Skills Canada National Competition due to previous comittments. The second place competitors from each competition were sent in Mitch’s place with Kaitlyn Rude in the Graphic Design competi‑tion and Stephanie Bramham in the Offset Printing competition.

ABOVE: Offset Printing competitors and judges. (L to R) Mitch Larsen, Bob Hogarth from Allied Printers, Stephanie Bramham, Leesa Isley, Laureen Pedersen from City of Regina, Dan Karikas from FCC, Kemp Nguyen, and Tascha Jasper.

LEFT: Graphic Design competitors and judges. (Clockwise from back row left) Erica Silzer from Fire Monkey Design Studio, Stephanie Bramham, Mitch Larsen, Kemp Nguyen, Shannon Fay, Cody Peterson, Kaitlyn Rude, Leesa Isley, Hilary de Paz, Heather Craigie, Jody Stewart from Impact Printers.

RIGHT: Mitch Larsen setting up feeder in the Offset Printing Competition.

FAR RIGHT: Competitors in the Graphic Design competition.

Saskatchewan Skills Competitions

Skills Canada National Competitions

Over the past several years the Graphic Commu‑nications program has

been involved in Skills Canada. For each competing trade there is a National Technical Commit‑tee (NTC). The NTC serves as an operational and advisory com‑mittee to the national office. The purpose of the committee is to formalize a competition develop‑ment process, which will ensure a positive experience for competi‑tors, instructors, judges and tech‑nical committee members. The committee provides each region of Canada a voice in the develop‑ment of Canadian Skills Com‑petition criteria. This ensures the standardization of Cana‑dian Skills Competition scopes,

projects and judging criteria. I (Tascha) am the National Techni‑cal committee representative for Western Canada for the Offset Printing Competition (volunteer capacity). I have several meetings throughout the year and do site inspections before competitions. Competitors successful in win‑ning a Gold Medal in the Sas‑katchewan Skills Competition, advance to the Skills Canada Na‑tional Competitions held in June representing Team Saskatchewan.

The national competition took place in Quebec City from June 2–3. Every year, the event brings together approximately 500 young people from all re‑gions of Canada, along with their parents and advisors, to compete in over 40 trade and technology areas. The competition provides an opportunity for young Cana‑dians studying a skilled trade or technology to be tested against exacting standards and against their peers from across the na‑tion. Students vie to win the hon‑our of being crowned the best in their chosen discipline. Team Sas‑katchewan last year had approxi‑mately 30 competitors attending and competing in all trades.

LEFT: Graphic Communications student Stephanie Bramham, national competitor in Offset Printing, and Graphic Communications instructor Heather Craigie, national competition coach, enjoying the opening ceremony festivities.

RIGHT: Skills Canada National Competition opening ceremonies held in the Pepsi Centre, Quebec City.

Skills Canada National Medalists!

As mentioned, Graphic Communications students Kaitlyn Rude and Stephanie Bramham, competed in the Skills Canada

National competition in Quebec City. We are extremely proud to announce that both Kaitlyn and Stephanie were medalists in their competitions. Kaitlyn Rude earned a bronze medal in the Graph‑ic Design competition while Stephanie Bramham

earned a silver medal in the Offset Printing compe‑tition! Both students competed hard and persevered through adversity, technical challenges, and the intense nature of the Skills Canada Competition to excel in their respective areas. Congratulations Kaitlyn and Stephanie, and thank‑you for repre‑senting SIAST, the Graphic Communications pro‑gram, and Saskatchewan in such an amazing way!

TOP LEFT: Stephanie Bramham, completing the 4‑colour press run portion of her competition.

LEFT: Kaitlyn Rude, during the second day of her competition.

TOP RIGHT: Kaitlyn and Stephanie heading into the closing ceremonies held in the Québec City Convention Centre.

ABOVE: National Technical Committee members. Cody Peterson (Graphic Communications Instructor, filled in for Natascha Jasper), Jeff Polley (Heidelberg Canada), Bernard Beaulieu (Centre de formation professionnelle Marie‑Rollet Teacher), and Bruce Kentworthy (Rhino Printing Solutions).

TOP: Graphic Communications students Stephanie Bramham and Kaitlyn Rude with Graphic Communications instructors Heather Craigie and Cody Peterson.

MIDDLE LEFT: Offset Printing Medalists. First Place Guillaume Beaulieu, Second Place Stephanie Bramham, Third Place Zakaria Bouhaddou.

MIDDLE RIGHT: Stephanie and Kaitlyn showing off their newly acquired hardware.

BOTTOM LEFT: Graphic Design Medalists. First Place Brandon Sullivan, Second Place Joespeh Keen, Third Place Kaitlyn Rude.

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Non-profit OrganizationsNon‑profit organizations come into the program to speak on behalf of the organizations. This gets the students involved within the non profit environment and helps them realize what they can do as a person to help. Our most recent speaker was Can‑dace Weimer. She is a Cancer survivor and spoke about the book she is writing to help others who are going through the same struggles. It was a very emotional and enlightening experience. Our program is involved with devel‑oping her book cover which is in the final stages of publishing.

Graphic Communications stu‑dents also connect with clients from non‑profit organization’s; like the Canadian Cancer So‑ciety, Terry Fox Foundation, Canadian Paraplegic Association, Alzheimer Society of Canada and Kids Sport, to work as the customer service representative, graphic artist, output technician or press operator on a “live” job from concept through to delivery. Some projects produced include brochures, posters, banners, stationary, programs and tick‑ets. The materials for the project are the only cost incurred by the non‑profit organization.

Prairie Valley School Division (PVSD) Grade 11 Career FairThis year we had the opportu‑nity to take part in the Prairie Valley School Division (PVSD) Grade 11 Career Fair Bert Fox School in Fort Qu’Appelle. The career fair focused on a number of different occupations but we were asked to provide a presenta‑tion to Grade 11 students from the PVSD about the occupa‑tion of a Graphic Designer. The presentations were designed to provide students with an idea of what the occupation of a Graphic Designer entails including what a person would do during the course of the day, what type of people of they get to work with, how much would they make, etc. Despite the informal and general nature of the presentation, it was an excellent opportunity for us to specifically promote our Graphic Communications program and SIAST as an excellent choice to gain an education, and learn how to be a Graphic Designer. The presentations were also to a group of students ranging in number from 10‑20 so there was lots of opportunity for questions and answering with the students.

The Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council (CPISC) provides a national forum for collabora‑tion on human resource and workforce development issues within the printing and graphic communications industry. Incor‑porated in April 2006, CPISC’s mission is to identify and imple‑ment strategies to address skills development and learning within the sector. Our overall goal is to improve the quality of the sector’s labour force.

The guiding principle within CPISC is partnership. They bring together employers, employees, unions, education and govern‑ment to develop innovative approaches to skills development for the current and future work‑force of this technology‑based industry. The intent of CPISC is not to duplicate what exists but to build on what is currently being done and to develop on a national basis the programs and services that will meet the human resource development needs of the industry as a whole.

The industry has its challenges, which include rapid techno‑logical change, a geographically dispersed and demographically varied workforce, changing demographics, and a lack of skill standards. The printing and graphic communications indus‑try has embraced technology but this has resulted in an urgent and continued need to upgrade and retrain current workers. There is also the ever‑present desire to attract bright, motivated young people to this vibrant industry.

To compete effectively in the emerging environment, print‑ing and graphic communica‑tions firms need a highly skilled workforce – one in which work‑ers hold a broad range of skills and knowledge, including higher technical skills. Specifically, firms will increasingly require adapt‑able, multi‑skilled workers who can operate computers, ana‑lyze problems, make decisions, work cooperatively, interact with customers and who have a solid understanding of the entire printing production process.

Certification is an accepted means of recognizing that a worker has the knowledge and skills to complete the work. There are many advantages to certification. For example, certi‑fication improves labour mobility in that certified workers have the opportunity to use their creden‑tials to seek employment any‑where in Canada. It helps to im‑prove the overall quality of work since certification is based on an agreed‑upon Canadian standard, established and set by the indus‑try to meet its particular needs. Because certification is an indus‑try‑led initiative, the credential has meaning and relevance. It is

also a way of seeking and keep‑ing motivated workers, raising the level of professionalism and promoting career development.

In November 2008, CPISC invited a faculty member of SIAST’s Graphic Communica‑tion program to join the newly formed Certification Working Group. Over the past two years, SIAST, through the Graphic Communications program, has invested time and effort in this volunteer capacity, to review recognition and certification models that will compliment the National Skills Standards de‑veloped by CPISC and industry. This multi‑phase process, involv‑ing face‑to‑face meetings across Canada, teleconferences, and hours of planning and research on the part of working group members, will lead to the devel‑opment of a national recognition program for the printing and graphic communications sector which includes objectives, poli‑cies, procedures, and governance structures; underlying psycho‑metric principles; development, maintenance and administration costs; ownership, pricing and revenue considerations; partner‑ship modalities and protocols.

Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council (CPISC) Certification Working Group

As a part of the National Edu‑cation Advisory Committee (NEAC) for the Canadian Print‑ing Industries Sector Council (CPISC), I (Cody) have had the opportunity to network with other graphic communications instructors from Colleges and Universities. One of the major roles of the NEAC is to provide CPISC and it’s members with what Colleges and Universities need at a grass‑roots level. We are on the frontlines as instruc‑tors and are able to communi‑cate what our students could benefit from through a tangible dialogue with major industry players across Canada. For example we are able to provide feedback on whether or not we would be interested in pursu‑ing or developing national ac‑creditation standards for various occupations within the Graphic Communications industry. We

have also had the opportunity to review and ultimately align ourselves with the industry reviewed occupational standards that have been created through CPISC focus groups for specific occupations. This is a small sampling of what I have been involved with specifically on the NEAC for CPISC but the future holds an incredible amount of potential for future network‑ing opportunities such as an annual Graphic Communica‑tions Instructors sanctioned by CPISC which would facilitate the professional development of instructors through focused discussions any number of cur‑rent and relevant topics/issues facing Graphic Communications Instructors today. This has been a very valuable asset to our pro‑gram and we feel that we have also helped our colleagues from across Canada in the process.

National Education Advisory Committee (NEAC) for the Canadian Printing Industries Sector Council

Student CompetitionsStudents are involved in competi‑tions creating logos for projects, communities and organizations. Some most recent projects are a logo for Saskatchewan HIV HCV Nursing Education Orga‑nization (Greg Riehl Program Head ‑ Basic Critical Care Nursing Program), formatting and developing a book for the World War 1 and World War 2 (Dr. Sandra Bassendowski, Professor, College of Nursing.)

Daycare DonationsWithin the printing industry there is a lot of paper being recycled. The Graphic Com‑munications program donates offcut paper of all sizes and colours to the SIAST daycare and also surrounding daycares within the city. We also print colouring sheets with a theme (ex. Halloween, Easter) for day‑cares and elementary schools.

Provincial Awards for Craft ExcellenceThis is a competition in which all members of the SGAIA turn in the best of their best work. They compete in 11 different categories of printing. Instruc‑tors in the Graphic Communi‑cations program are volunteer judges for these awards which are then awarded at the SGAIA Annual General Meeting along with certificates and trophies.

Printing Industries of America/PIAA Certificate of Completion is granted by Printing Industries of America to those trainees com‑pleting the knowledge and Sheet‑fed Offset Press sections of all eleven tasks (core subjects) in the course, and the Prepress Skills sec‑tions of all six tasks (core subjects) in the course and successfully passing a final examination in both areas. The certificates are an excellent acknowledgement of a distinctive achievement in continu‑ing education and development.

We, as instructors, have com‑pleted the Train the Trainer course in regards to these cer‑tificates. Students are trained in these areas and a minimal fee is processed $40 to complete the certification exam. Passing results give the students 2 ad‑ditional, nationally recognized certificates along with the Graphic Communication Diploma.

Coast Paper CollegeRepresentatives from Coast Paper speak to students in depth explaining the entire paper pro‑cess from how the trees are har‑vested with the environment in mind, all the way to how paper is made. Students tour the facil‑ity in Regina. Coast paper is the major supplier of paper, ink and chemicals. Donations of prod‑ucts and low pricing is received from Coast and is a huge sup‑porter of the program. Students also contact Coast directly for their non‑profit jobs in regards to costing out the job to ordering the job for the non profit client.

Dental Hygiene Students are involved annually with dental staff creating com‑monly used forms that students have designed and printed. This is a great learning experi‑ence for them. From concep‑tion to printed pieces dealing directly with actual clients.

Heidelberg Canada TrainingHeidelberg spends a day each year reviewing training and maintenance on all pressroom equipment for students and staff.

Equipment Donations • Heidelberg PrintMaster 46‑2

Press (Partial Donation by Parkland Printers – Yorkton)

• Renewal of Quite Impos‑ing Software (Donated by Quite Software – Scotland)

• Large selection of offset ink and chemicals (Do‑nated by FCC Regina)

• Paper (Donated by Coast Paper)• Xerox Docucolor 252 Lease

(Partial Donation by Xerox)• Heidelberg Platesetter

Mitsubishi SDP‑Eco 1630R III Polyester CTP (Educational discount provided)

Hi Natascha,

I can certainly say that Hilary and Ashley were pleasant surprises!

When I first learned that there were going to be 2 students coming in for their work terms I was a little worried about the amount of time that would have to be spent with orientation to our processes. In previous experiences this has been a fairly large undertaking and time consuming. The end result sometimes paid off dividends but very rarely, and usually resulted in competency in one area for the most part.

With both students from your program the biggest difference is that we were more productive right away due to their hands on training. Your program obviously offers a wider gamut of real world equipment and process than others so this made orientation much easier. We have grey areas in our positions which require other skill sets and both of your students seem well versed and eager to embrace those roles with a familiarity of having done in some way before. This is very valuable for the tasks we sometime face.

Examples of things that they already knew which we routinely do are:

• Plate production

• Operation of digital presses and their features

• Paper knowledge

• Design (specifically with Pantone and understanding of bleed, imposition and registration)

• Light bindery duties

• Press operation (this is amazing to me that there is hands on with this which makes real work situations easier for them to understand i.e.. grip, Pantones, paper, plates etc)

Overall it has been a great experience and I would not hesitate to recommend to Maggie to reproach you when the need arises.

Thank you, Jesse Schneider Allied Printers & Promotions

Thanks to Work Placement Host CompaniesThanks to the following com‑panies for hosting our sec‑ond year students during the 2011 work placements:

• Advantage Sign & Display• Adventure Printing• Allied Printers & Promotions• Farm Credit Canada (FCC)• FloPrint• Melcher Media & Design• Moose Jaw Times Herald• Pheonix Group• PrintWest Communications

Saskatchewan Graphic Arts Industry Association MembershipThis is an annual membership with monthly meetings (third Thursday). Guest speakers in‑volving the industry through out the province speak on printed related topics. The Graphic Com‑munications program hosts and presents an association meet‑ing every October. We give an annual presentation and tour of the program for all Sas‑katchewan members to discuss new trends and network with industry to which our students complete their work experience.

Graphic Communications Program TestimonialThe following is a letter received by Jesse Schneider from Allied Printers and Promotions regarding two Graphic Communications students who worked at Allied during their work placements.

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