Trent Konrad, left, of the Canadian Welding Association, last week brought new helmets that CWA Foundation is contributing to Osoyoos Secondary School. With him are students Kyle McBurney and Luke Nehring and teacher Ivor Langley. McBurney and Nehring recently placed in the top three in their respective regional Skills Canada British Columbia competitions in Kelowna. (Richard McGuire photo)
Students from Osoyoos Secondary School (OSS) have once again been named winners in an annual trade skills competition in Kelowna.
Kyle McBurney took a silver medal in welding, Luke Nehring won bronze in cabinet making and Justin Westcott took bronze in automotive service.
The regional match for the B.C. Skills Canada Competition is held at the Kelowna campus of Okanagan College.
“I’m always impressed for a small school like ours,” said Ivor Langley, technology teacher at OSS. “I’m happy if we win one medal. They brought home three medals, so that’s awesome.”
Langley said eight OSS students participated in the competition this year and this is the fifth year in a row that his students have won a medal in cabinet making.
Another student, Calvin Launier, in Grade 11, will be going to the provincial competition for auto body.
Langley said there weren’t enough students to run a regional competition in this category, so Launier received direct entry into the provincials.
Meanwhile, the welding program at OSS received a big boost with the donation of four high-quality welding helmets from the Canadian Welding Association’s CWA Foundation.
Trent Konrad, CWA’s technical outreach officer for Western Canada, was at OSS last Thursday to make the presentation.
Langley said that in addition to the helmets, the CWA Foundation also has scholarships available for OSS welding students.
“We have two mandates,” said Konrad. “Support safety awareness and the second is to address the skilled labour shortage in welding.”
Langley said the school’s welding program operates with a small budget, so the donation helps.
The existing helmets the school has are cheap and don’t last long, but they’re all the school can afford, he said.
“We’re always looking to augment our equipment, whatever we can do,” he said. “The kids love being here, so we’ll do anything we can to give them better stuff.”
Each year about five to seven students in the graduating class go into trades, Langley said.
McBurney said he competed against about 10 students in a task that involved cutting and welding.
“It was a good experience,” he said, admitting that he would improve on a few things if he could do it again.
Nehring said there were 11 competitors in his competition. They had to make a stepstool with a compartment inside.
“Obviously I would have liked to have gotten first, but it’s still a learning experience,” he said.
Only first-place finishers go on to the provincials from the Kelowna competition.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
Kyle McBurney (left) and Luke Nehring, recently took home medals from the Skills Canada British Columbia competition in Kelowna. McBurney won a silver in welding and Nehring took bronze in cabinet making. Both students are in Grade 12. Osoyoos Secondary School students regularly do well in the regional competition and sometimes win spots in provincial competitions. Only first-place finishers in Kelowna go on to the provincials. (Richard McGuire photo)
