Tyler Kropinak will be testing himself against the top trades students from across Canada at the 17th annual Skills Canada national competition.
Kropinak, who attends Kwantlen Polytechnic University, won the right after beating out seven other welding students in the regional and provincial qualifying rounds.
“I’ve been looking forward to this competition ever since I was 14 years old,” Kropinak said. “I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to make it onto the podium and be recognized as one of the best young welders in the country.”
The competition runs through this weekend in Quebec City and will feature 500 competitors in a variety of trade categories. Twenty thousand spectators are expected.
“This really is the ‘Olympics’ of trade competitions in Canada,” Kropinak said. “I’m feeling a lot of nervous excitement about the opportunity.”
To prepare, he has been practising for two to three hours daily for the past few weeks, in addition to doing his work at Columbia Remtech, a local manufacturer of aluminum petroleum trailers and aluminum asphalt trailers.
