Skills Ontario returns with regional championship in Oshawa
Published April 5, 2023 at 11:07 am
Skills Ontario is back after a three-year COVID-induced hiatus, with a regional competition for elementary school students happening April 12 at the Tribute Communities Centre in Oshawa.
The provincial finals will be held at the Toronto Congress Centre May 1-3.
The regional Skills contest will feature 360 students from the Durham District School Board alone from grades 4-8 who qualified from more than 8,000 students who participated in their own classrooms during the virtual qualification round. More 160 teachers submitted final entries and the 90 qualifying teams were selected by judges to represent their schools at the contest.
The Skills Ontario Competition offers a unique opportunity for students to demonstrate they are the best of the best in their field. Over the two and a half days, they get a chance to turn the heads of their educators, family, friends and prospective employers, with winners awarded gold, silver and bronze medals. There are monetary awards, too, as well as the opportunity to compete at the Skills Canada National Competition. From there, competitors could be headed to a WorldSkills Competition.
Skills Ontario is open to elementary, secondary and post-secondary students, with some categories so competitive (Culinary, Individual Carpentry, TV Video and Welding – high school only) that pre-qualifying competitions have to be held.
The qualifying teams for the regional elementary Skills Ontario competition represent 43 schools in the Durham board, with 60-plus school board educators acting as mentors and judges.
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The students will compete in eight distinct categories: Construction, Green Energy, Tech Design (Jr & Int), Animation (Jr & Int) and VEX Robotics (Jr & Intermediate.
The event will take place Wednesday, April 12 from nine a.m. to 3 p.m.
