Kem Frederiksen: He’s Teaching Others What He’s Learned

The students in Kem Frederiksen’s welding class at Edmonton’s Northern Alberta Institute of Technology don’t know their teacher is a former international champion. That's because the winner of the 1995 Canadian and North American Boilermaker Apprentice Competition hasn’t told them—and says he probably won’t any time soon.

“I’m 38,” says Kem, “and I won those competitions 10 years ago. That’s ancient history to the students in my class. Besides, they’re not here to learn about their teacher, they’re here to learn about welding and to make the right decisions for their careers.”

Kem acknowledges that there’s a second reason he doesn’t want to be seen as taking credit for his victories—he knows how much he owes to those who supported him along the way.

“Don’t get me wrong,” says Kem, “I worked hard, really hard, for months in advance to prepare for those competitions. I read, I learned and I practised. But I couldn’t have done it without help. My union local gave me the time and the facilities to prepare, my work buddies encouraged me every step along the way and my wife, Leslie, supported me during both competitions, and helped me with question and answer sessions in preparation for the written tests.”

The Canadian competition was held in Sydney, Nova Scotia in June of 1995. Five competitors from across Canada were tested on their knowledge and physical skills. By winning, Kem earned the right to compete in the North American championships later that year in Kansas City, Kansas. Again, Kem took on six competitors in a series of physical and mental challenges over the course of the three-day competition.

“Then,” says Kem, “we partied.” In fact, it was while the competitors were celebrating that Kem was told he was the new North American champion, the first Canadian ever to win the title.

As it turned out, Kem won much more than a trophy. After he was declared the winner, a representative of Chicago Bridge and Iron, the parent company of the firm that Kem worked for in Edmonton, asked him what his plans were. Kem says he told him he didn’t have any definite plans, then didn’t hear from him again. “But when I got back to Horton CMI in Edmonton, I was told I had a full-time job.” That led, some five years later, to the job he’s held since the middle of 2002—welding instructor at NAIT.

Ironically, Kem won two competitions to secure the job he holds today. “I applied to become a boilermaker instructor as well as a welding instructor. When I was accepted for both, I had to make a tough decision.” The choice he made, says Kem today, was definitely the right one.