Centennial College students brought home a record 24 medals from the 2023 Skills Ontario Competition this past week – winning four gold, 13 silver and six bronze. And for a fifth consecutive year, Centennial capped off an excellent effort by winning the College Award of Distinction at the closing ceremony. Two of the college’s gold medal finishers will travel to Winnipeg as they qualify for the Skills Canada National Competition held at the RBC Convention Centre on May 25 and 26.
"I’m beaming from ear to ear! Amazing students and equally amazing instructors, coaches and mentors. Thanks, too, to all those colleagues – administrators, support staff and faculty – who volunteered at Skills Ontario," said Dr. Craig Stephenson, Centennial College President and CEO, who visited the exhibition on May 1. "I got a sense of the sheer size and scale of the competition, and the complexity of the logistics behind it all... so impressive!"
In addition to the skills competitions, Electrical Engineering Technician student Jian (Jimmy) Bin Su proved he possessed a creative streak when he designed a special pin that was selected by Skills Ontario to represent the event this year. After reviewing hundreds of entries, organizers announced the winning pin design by Bin Su, and the winning medal design by Grade 11 student Reese Lombardi of Cambridge. The pin was reproduced in the hundreds to be handed out to participants at the competition.
Skills Ontario engages students in competitions to demonstrate experiential learning while showcasing career opportunities in skilled trades and technologies. Centennial’s continued success at the annual competitions is an enduring testimony to the skills and talent of our students, who are taught, guided and coached by our dedicated faculty and support staff colleagues. The collective achievement demonstrates just how well Centennial is preparing students for today’s job market, not to mention elevating their self-confidence and personal growth.
Centennial dispatched 81 students to this year’s competition from the Schools of Transportation (SoT), Engineering Technology and Applied Science (SETAS), Hospitality, Tourism and Culinary Arts (SHTCA) and Communications, Media, Arts and Design (SCMAD). Our outstanding gold medal winners are:
Ali Salehi – Electronics
Wade Coulter – Refrigeration
Joonhyun An – Computer Aided Manufacturing
Andrea Ramirez Garcia and Jessa Lee Dacua – Renewable Energy team competition
Ali and Wade qualify for the Nationals and will be going to Winnipeg at the end of May. The Skills Ontario Competition has been a signature event for Centennial for more than 25 years. It commands a lot of time and commitment from college faculty and staff, not only in teaching and preparing our students for the rigours of competition, but in coordinating our efforts with Skills Ontario.
To all the competitors and organizers who contributed to our incredible results at Skills Ontario this year, your passion, sheer dedication and unbelievable hard work culminated in a very proud moment for Centennial, one that we hope will be repeated later this month on the national stage. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone involved!
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