Hello Everyone!

I am still in Calgary and competition hasn’t started yet. Today we went to visit two elementary schools to introduce ourselves and what we do. At one of the schools we were each assigned four little kids to be our “tour guides.” We went to different classrooms and each student took turns to introduce me. It was very nice. I had explained to them what printing was and when the other students had questions about what printing is my tour guides would proudly explain.

We have the opening ceremony tonight. Tomorrow is my first day of competition and I am going to be doing an exercise on the SHOTS simulator. I am also doing some cutting! The SHOTS simulator exercise is only worth 2 points and they are judging us on just our ability to solve the problem. The cutting is only worth half of a point because it isn’t an every day task that a press operator has to do cutting. For cutting, all I have to do is tell them what first cut I would make.

The following day I have some ink mixing to do, a digital print job, and a SHOTS simulator exercise. The ink mixing will be done in Grams, not Pounds. The digital job is worth only half a point and all we have to do is make sure we get there on time to get the half of a point.

On the third day, I have to do my final SHOTS exercise in the morning and then in the afternoon I will have my press run. I named the press “Jerry” after my trainer at Gilson Graphics. The SHOTS exercise is going to be hard, according to the judges. I hope I can figure out the problems quickly. I hope the printer gods are with me during my press run. There are a lot of talented press operators at the competition. Some have had years of experience running a Heidelberg SM-52. I hope the press runs like it has been running at Gilson.

The fourth and final day is the day that I measure my spot color with a spectrophotometer. After the competition we have our closing ceremony and that is when they announce the winners. I hope I can go on stage and represent all of the printers at Ferris State University!

-Amela Mujkic

P.S. Pictured above is Royce Richards from New Zealand. You can see me in the picture there behind him. Royce is one of the few competitors in Offset Printing that will talk to me. The rest pretend they don’t speak english.

One School, One Country is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

Update: I MADE IT TO CALGARY! I have only been in Calgary for about 3 hours now and I have already met some people from other countries. It has been hard hunting down the printers from other countries… Hopefully I will meet them at dinner tonight.

When I got off of the bus in front of the competitors village, I saw a crowd of people sitting outside smoking cigarettes. I decided to go and say hi. It turns out that they are from the Netherlands (or Holland, whichever one you want to call it). When I told them I was competing in “Offset Printing” they immediately told me that I probably won’t win because their competitor is a 2 time Netherlands champion in printing and is also #1 in Europe. They also proceeded to tell me that he has been training for 3 months with Heidelberg.

I am NOT discouraged. I think I have a good chance of winning, just like the guy from the Netherlands does. I give him a lot of respect for getting to WorldSkills and I’m sure the competition won’t be easy. My secret weapon is time. We are allotted 4 hours to do the competition and I can do it in 2 and a half if I am focused. You get bonus points for finishing early. I also don’t know if he has had any training on the SHOTS simulator. Did anyone notice the computer from the pressroom missing?

I am going to go to dinner soon. All of the competitors eat dinner in the same place so I am hoping to meet all of the printers. I want to make lots of friends while I am here. Maybe exchange ideas on how printing is done in Europe. Should I try and talk to them about going to Ferris State University?

As for tomorrow, we are going to Banff! It is this super awesome place in the Canadian Rockies. It is a national park. They have hot springs and spas that I want to dip into. Lots of beautiful scenery. I forgot to bring my camera so you all will have to wait for pictures until James gets here. He is going to be here tomorrow!

I hope everyones first week of classes goes well. Keep me posted on GAA activities and such.

Journey to WorldSkills 2009 – CALGARY!!! is a post from: Graphic Arts Association

I am a little nervous about running 100# text through the feeder since that is the ONLY kind of paper I haven’t run on the Heidelberg SM-52. I guess I’ll just put all of the settings in the middle and see what happens. I really wish I could have brought my own ink. Grand Rapids Printing Inks was going to send me off with 5 lbs cans of CMYK inks but we weren’t sure how we were going to get it across the border and through airport security. We also weren’t sure if I was allowed to bring my own ink; it might give me a competitive advantage. I think it would be cool if the students in the paper and ink class come down to GRPI’s facility to mix some ink. Or maybe do a GAA tour/ink mixing session? What are your thoughts on this idea?

I think I blabbed enough about the competition for today. Off to Washington DC!

I am super excited that this airport has FREE WiFi

Keep checking the website for updates on my trip to WorldSkills 2009!

-Amela Mujkic

Journey to WorldSkills 2009 – Washington DC is a post from: Graphic Arts Association