Northern Lights College (NLC) Electrician Foundation Trades student Alex Kay not only proved his mettle at the regional Skills competition, but also at the provincial and national level as well.
He recently went to Quebec City for the Skills Canada national competition and took the gold medal in the electrical category.
However, it almost didn’t happen.
In Skills Canada, there is only an electrical competition at the secondary level, not the post-secondary level. So, he originally wasn’t going to compete at all.
But after discussions with the Skills coordinators, Alex was allowed to compete in the Secondary competition. Alex graduated high school early, so he is younger than most of his classmates in Electrical Foundation, meaning he still met the age requirement.
The task was to do residential wiring through a light panel, which Alex passed with flying colours, taking gold in regionals.
“It was stuff we’d just learned in class, so that helped,” Alex said, as the regional Skills competition took place about two weeks after his program started.
From there, it was on to the provincial competition in Abbotsford.
“I think the provincial competition was the most complicated one,” he said of the work he had to do for that event. It was similar to regionals, but a more complicated setup.
After taking the gold medal there, it was on to Nationals where he came out on top once again.
Electrical Foundation instructor Andy Amboe is very proud of what Alex has achieved in his time with NLC.
“Alex is one of those guys where immediately I could tell was more mature than his years and took this seriously from the moment he came here,” he said.
Alex named the program as being the reason why he was able to succeed all the way through Skills.
“It’s very thorough, it’s got great teachers that care a lot about the students, probably the best program in Canada. We definitely get a lot for our money’s worth.”
To learn more about this program, visit our Electrician Foundation Trades Certificate page.