Prairie Sky Collegiate students get hands-on training with agricultural equipment at Medicine Hat shop

Level 2 Transportation Trades students from Prairie Sky Collegiate worked alongside industry professionals at a Medicine Hat agricultural equipment shop this week, getting hands-on experience diagnosing and maintaining the machinery that keeps farms running at harvest time.

Medicine Hat Public School Division said in a Facebook post Friday that the students visited Ag-Plus Mechanical as part of an introduction to the Agricultural Heavy Equipment Technician trade.

While there, students tested systems, tightened components, calibrated equipment and learned how to diagnose faults that can halt fieldwork. They also examined swathers and other cutting equipment, looking at how the machines operate and how they are maintained.

The school division said the placement offered more than technical skills, pointing to the role tradespeople play in keeping farm equipment running through critical periods like seeding and harvest.