Students Compete in Skills Canada BC
The Skills Canada BC competition is a series of events that challenge students in skilled trades and technology. Designed to inspire students to explore careers in these fields, the competition features both junior and senior divisions.
Both the junior and senior competitions were held on February 28 at North Island College in Campbell River, where many qathet School District students had the opportunity to attend.
Junior Competitions
The junior competitions focus on ADST (Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies) activities, such as gravity cars and spaghetti bridge building.
Each year, qathet School District supports three Grade 7 students in attending the Gravity Car competition. Students qualify based on their performance in a district-wide event. This year, Shine Lloyd, Gianna Hull, and Griffin Fraser represented the district—Griffin won 12 out of 15 races!
For the Spaghetti Bridge competition, the district supports one Grade 8 team. To determine who competes, Brooks Secondary annually hosts a popsicle bridge competition in partnership with the Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (EGBC), with the winners earning a spot in the Skills Canada Regionals. This year, Claire Hull and Dahlia Crawford earned the opportunity to attend.
Senior Competitions
The senior competitions focus on foundational trades programs such as welding, carpentry, culinary arts, and more.
Earlier in the year, students participated in inter-program challenges to determine who would represent qathet School District at Skills Canada. As a result, two students from the automotive program, two from the carpentry program, and three from the welding program competed. For culinary, instructor Connor Knickerbocker hosted a challenge for Brooks Secondary students, where Finn Gow-Hignell took first place. With additional regional competition spots available, Anji Awopetu and AJ Cassar also had the opportunity to compete.
A huge congratulations to all qathet School District students who participated! A special shout-out to the culinary students, who won gold, silver, and bronze and will advance to the Skills Canada Provincials in Vancouver on April 16. Exciting!
Results for senior division:
Reid Balzon, Automotive - Silver
Morgan Hanlon, Automotive
Osker Paquette, Carpentry, Bronze
Ryan Ross, Carpentry
Cooper Larsen, Welding
Grace Kurtz, Welding
Derek Swanson, Welding, Gold
Finn Gow-Hignell, Culinary, Bronze
Anji Awopetu, Culinary, Silver
AJ Cassar, Culinary, Gold