Hammers will be swinging, sparks flying and cameras rolling at the Timberline Secondary/North Island College campus today.
The school will be host to the Skills Canada BC Vancouver Island North regionals, an Olympic-style trades and technology competition.
Skills Canada is a non-profit organization that partners with government, educators, private industry and labour to promote and celebrate the skilled trades and technologies as possible first choice careers for young people across each province.
Skills Canada BC hosts 13 regional and one provincial competition each year. Winners of the regional competitions advance to the provincials, which will be held at the Abbotsford Tradex Centre April 17. From the provincials, students have the chance of advancing to the national skills competition at BC Place in June.
Over 100 students will compete at the Vancouver Island North regionals in: 2D and 3D computer animation; architectural and mechanical CAD; automotive service; baking; cabinetmaking; carpentry; culinary arts; digital art; electronics; fashion technology; graphic and web design; hairdressing; robotics; TV and video production; website development; and welding. The regional competition for carpentry was held on Feb. 21 at the Courtenay North Island College campus. Four students from Carihi Secondary competed and placed in the top five, with first place honours going to grade 12 student Trevor Schmidt.
The competitions serve two main purposes. The first is to celebrate and reward students for excellence in their mastery of trade and technology skills by involving industry in evaluating skills to keep training relevant to employers’ needs. The second is to create an interactive and engaging environment for the thousands of young people who attend the competitions as spectators. Young spectators are provided many opportunities to experience a wide variety of skilled trade and technology careers by watching the competitions, participating in First Hand demonstrations and networking with the hundreds of industry and educational experts in attendance.
Last year there were 460 competitors at the provincial competition in Abbotsford, together with more than 4,000 visitors to the event.
