GEORGIAN COLLEGE
Ten Georgian students win big at 'Olympics of the trades' Skills Ontario competition

Ten Georgian College students won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Skills Ontario competition this week, including three students who will move on to compete at a national event.

Joshua Merritt, left, won a gold medal and Aidan Crandall won silver in the Outdoor Powered Equipment category at the 2024 Skills Ontario competition May 6 and 7 in Toronto.

 

Emily Shaver-Miller, a student in Georgian's Hairstyling program, won a silver medal at the annual competition for skilled trades and technologies students to showcase their expertise in their fields.

"Skills Ontario was an amazing opportunity for growing my skills and challenging myself in news ways," she said. "Through hard work, practice and continued education under my mentor, I got the chance to take my skills to the next level. It was a game changer for me and helped give me a new perspective on working in my trade."

This year, 26 Georgian students competed at Skills Ontario, of which three competed for the first time in the Aesthetics and Geographic Information Systems categories and all won gold.

"The Skills Ontario competition is the Olympics of the trades," said Marjorie Cook, Business Manager, Engineering and Environmental Technologies at Georgian College. "Over the past two years, we've had students on the podium in several competitions, highlighting that Georgian provides superior education within these trades."

Emily Shaver-Miller won a silver medal in the Hairstyling category at the Skills Ontario competition.

 

Gold medals were awarded to:

• Ben Bader for Additive Manufacturing,
• Kyla Cosier for Aesthetics,
• Evan Crabb and Nhu (Liam) Nguyen for Geographic Information Systems,
• Joshua Merritt for Outdoor Powered Equipment, and
• Ryle Reynolds for Computer Numerical Control Machining.

This is Bader's second gold medal in that category after receiving one at last year's competition. As well, Reynolds received bronze in the same category in 2023.

Silver medals were awarded to:

• Aidan Crandall for Outdoor Powered Equipment, and
• Emily Shaver-Miller for Hairstyling.

Bronze medals were awarded to:

• Kevin Armstrong and Scott Middlebrook for Mechatronics.

Merritt, Reynolds and Cosier will quickly change gears and prepare to represent Team Ontario at the Skills Canada National Competition in Québec City, Que. from May 29 to June 1.

"This is an honour that very few students have an opportunity to experience, and the level of self-confidence our students gain from this experience is paramount," said Cook. "All of our students should be very proud of what they have achieved."