Dawn Gibson
Sooke News Mirror
Edward Milne Community School had a day filled with success at the recent Skills Canada competition at Camosun College in Saanich.
Around 1,000 middle and secondary school students attended the day-long event, which introduced youth to trades and technology careers, with older students facing off in skills competitions.
EMCS brought home six medals: In welding, Justin Logan won gold for the second year in a row, James Coldwell won silver and Brandan Muttitt won bronze; Joseph Kwandibens won gold in drafting, Ezekiel Guetre won gold in electronics and Hunter Burkett won silver in carpentry.
“Justin isn’t a welding student, he is a metal fabrication student and he still managed to out-compete the welding students who have much more experience,” said EMCS teacher Matt Harmeson. “All of the students worked incredibly hard to get where they are and compete at that level. It takes alot of courage to compete against other students in other schools.”
He said all of the competitors spent many hours after school preparing for the competition.
Logan will now head to the provincial welding championships, and Air Liquide and Seaspan have stepped up to cover all of the associated costs.
“Without the help of industry we wouldn’t be where we are today,” said Harmeson.
Guetre said the Skills Canada event was a good way to raise awareness around trades careers, and allows students to learn what they need to improve on after competing.
Kwandibens added that the competition taught him how to better manage his time while working at his trade.
Potential employers attend the annual event, and can offer students jobs if they are impressed by what they see.
On top of all the individual success, EMCS was also awarded “Most Winnigest School” for the second year in a row.