Shayden Stark (left) recently placed first in the Skills Canada British Columbia competition in cabinet making in Kelowna. The Grade 12 Osoyoos Secondary School student’s win earned him a place at the provincial competitions in Abbotsford on April 14. Stark didn’t place in the top three at Abbotsford, but his technology teacher Ivor Langley (right) says he still did well. (Richard McGuire photo)
An Osoyoos high school student has captured a spot in a province-wide trades competition in Abbotsford after beating out other students from across the Okanagan Valley.
Shayden Stark, a Grade 12 student at Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS), did not place in the top three in Abbotsford on April 14, but his technology teacher Ivor Langley is still proud of him.
In the Provincial Skills Canada Competition in Abbotsford, Stark went up against the top cabinet making students from 12 regions of the province.
Some of these, said Langley, are from large schools of 2,000 students or more.
“For a student from a school of 250 kids to be competitive with those big schools, that’s awesome,” said Langley.
Stark earned his spot in the provincials after placing first among about a dozen students at the March 6 regional competition in Kelowna.
Cabinet making apprenticeship instructors at Okanagan University College (OUC) judged the competition.
Stark battled against students from other Okanagan high schools, some of them large, from as far away as Vernon.
His task was to build a wooden stepstool.
“I banged that out pretty quick,” said Stark, adding that he also competed in Kelowna a year earlier, so knew what to expect.
In Abbotsford, he faced a tougher challenge, having to make a toolbox that required square joints that needed to be cut by hand.
He acknowledges that he had less practice with that skill.
“They made it harder, which I thought was great,” said Langley. “They included a project that had a lot of hand skills. Most kids can run wood through the planer and table saw to produce something, but half the project was hand-cut wood joints, so that was quite challenging for the students.”
Stark’s shop skills extend far beyond cabinet making, said Langley.
“He would spend all day here if we would let him,” said Langley. “He loves working in the shop. He’s very, very good and not just at woodwork. I had him repair stuff on our band saw. He can fix vehicles. He can weld. He’s very, very handy. He’s a very solid all-around student.”
Stark also plays basketball with the OSS Rattlers senior boys’ team.
The student, who graduates this year, isn’t sure what he’ll do after graduation, but expects it will be in some type of trade.
“I might start an apprenticeship,” he said. “I might get into framing and building houses.”
Stark wasn’t the only OSS student competing in Kelowna, but he was the only one to make it to the provincials in Abbotsford.
Grade 11 student Kassie Hutter competed in computer-aided design (CAD) and Grade 11 students Cameron Service and Luke Nehring also competed in cabinet making.
Langley said he likes to send some Grade 11 students to Kelowna so they’ll learn what the competitions are about and be aware of the expectations.
“It’s really good for the kids to get away from Osoyoos and up to Kelowna to see what is going on at OUC,” said Langley. “The competition pushes the kids.
“Shayden knows he’s one of the best so he doesn’t really have to work that hard to be the best, but when he goes to Kelowna, everybody else is good, so then you really have to up your game.”
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
