Summer 2015 Newsletter

In this issue:

 

Message from Gail Smyth

Even with elementary and secondary classes finished for the year, Skills Ontario programs continue to deliver skilled trade and technology discoveries for youth across Ontario. Our summer camp program launched successfully last week and we are thrilled to offer 25 summer camps for grade 7 and 8 students in communities across Ontario.  In addition to exploring careers in skilled trades and technologies through a variety of hands-on workshops and games, these young people will also learn about skilled trades entrepreneurship as a possible career path – what a way to spend the summer!   

We are also very excited for the WorldSkills Competition, held this August in Brazil. Team Canada’s 29 competitors will face-off with the best of their peers from around the world in 52 skills competitions. Imagine being able to tell a future employer that you are truly the best in the world – and have the gold medal to prove it! We wish Team Canada good luck in Brazil, and look forward to seeing what you can do on the world stage.

And of course we are already looking to the 2015-16 school year and the excitement that September always brings. The Skills Ontario team is busy updating and refreshing the in-school presentation materials and program guide for September’s new beginning, something we look forward to each year.

So, as we wind down from one school and gear up for the next, we would like to wish you a happy and healthy summer season!

 

Upcoming Events

August 10: Aboriginal Focused Mentoring Event, Timmins

August 14: Skills Ontario Scholarship Deadline

August 11-16: WorldSkills Competition, São Paulo, Brazil

 

Team Ontario at the National Competition

Team OntarioTeam Ontario had an outstanding performance at the 2015 National Skills Competition!! Our Team of 69 competitors earned 43 medals in 37 different contests; 16 Gold, 13 Silver, 14 Bronze. Ontario is number one across Canada in the medal standings, earning medals in 60% of the contests, and placing in the top 5 in 80% of the contests (50 out of 61)! One 5th place competitor was only 5 points off of first place, showing how close the results can be!

We are extremely proud of our Ontario students who achieved top performances against the best of their peers from across the country! Ontario has a very bright – and skilled – future!

 

Skills Work!® Summer Camp kicks off the summer

The Skills Work! Summer Camp is up and running, with camps in Belleville, Thunder Bay, Midland, Guelph, and Toronto kicking off the summer last week. Camps in Sarnia, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Tiverton, and Waterloo are underway this week. Some of the camp highlights include:

A facility tour and learning about machine safety at Linamar in Guelph

An electrical workshop at Georgian College in Midland

The Mayor joined the campers for some carpentry work at Loyalist College in Belleville
Follow us on Twitter @skillsontario and like our Skills Ontario Facebook page for weekly updates from camp!
 
Aboriginal Initiatives Update
 
We continue to be deeply committed to identifying and addressing the unique needs of specific Aboriginal communities through our programs. Our shared goal is to continue to increase the awareness and knowledge in Aboriginal communities and individuals about viable careers in skilled trades and technologies. And there are a number of ways we have done this over the last school year:We hosted three Aboriginal Focused Mentoring Events (Niagara Falls in partnership with Niagara Peninsula Aboriginal Area Management Board, Hamilton in partnership with Hamilton regional Inidian Centre and Grand River Employment and Training and Thunder Bay in partnership with Maamawe and Ozaanaman Engineering). On February 25, 2015 Skills Ontario hosted the First ever Aboriginal focused Trades and Tech Day in partnership with North Shore Tribal and Sault College, which offered four 50 minute hands on workshops lead by professors at the college, such as carpentry, plumbing, culinary, and hairstyling.
 
What’s more is our Aboriginal Initiative Affiliations have doubled since last school year, which has allowed us to reach out to thousands of First Nation, Metis, and Inuit youth, unemployed, and underemployed!
 
Over the summer months, we are planning an Aboriginal focused mentoring event in partnership with Northern College and the Lightening Trail Camp for August 10th 2015; and we are holding two Aboriginal focused summer camps located in London in partnership with Fanshawe and M’chigeeng in partnership with Kenjgewin Teg Educational Institute. 
 
Skills Ontario Scholarship Application Due Date Approaching
 
Do you know an OTSC bronze, silver or gold medalist who is pursuing a post-secondary education in the technologies through a technology program at community college within the Province of Ontario? Let them know about the Skills Ontario Scholarship! The deadline for applications is Friday, August 14, 2015. Details on the application process 
 
OTSC 2016 Save the Date: May 2-4, 2016
 
The Ontario Technological Skills Competition (OTSC) is the largest skilled trades competition in Canada: more than 2,000 student competitors from all over Ontario travel to Waterloo for the chance to demonstrate that they are the best in their field. The OTSC offers a unique opportunity for top students to demonstrate their skills and enthusiasm for their career choices, turning the heads of educators, family, friends and prospective employers. It’s also a great opportunity for undecided students to peruse the contest areas and see what’s really out there in the skilled trades and technologies. We look forward to seeing you as the OTSC celebrates its 14th year at RIM Park in Waterloo – join us May 2-4, 2016!
 
Call for Volunteers: OTSC Technical Committee Members
 
The Ontario Technological Skills Competition takes Skills Ontario is looking for Technical Committee Members to help with the following contests:
2D Animation Construction Challenge Precision Machining
3D Animation Electronics Refrigeration
Aesthetics Horticulture and Landscape Restaurant Service
Architectural Technology and Design IT Network Systems Administration Small Powered Equipment
Auto Collision Repair IT – Software Solutions for Business TV Video Production Challenge
Auto Painting Landscape Design  
Baking Mechanical CAD  

For more information and to get involved, please contact  info@skillsontario.com.

 

Skills Ontario Alumni Feature: Cat Mathewson & Tony Teng, Excellence Auto Collision 

Excellence Auto Collision was started in 1987 by Peter Woo. Over the years, his shop has expanded to two locations in Toronto and, coincidence or not, Excellence Auto Collision employs six OTSC alumni!

Mark Millson is the director of operations at Excellence Auto Collision, and was a member of Team Canada at the 2005 WorldSkills competition in Helsinki and has also volunteered as a judge for the OTSC. Adrian Tantalo, Matias Ha, Peter Gauthier, Tony Teng and Cat Mathewson are other alumni that have competed – and performed very well - at the OTSC over the years.  

Cat and Tony are two OTSC alumni that are just starting out on their apprenticeship paths at Excellence Auto Collision. Both were inspired to compete in the OTSC by and credit their success their high school tech teacher, Mr. Bill Speed (who is also an OTSC tech chair); they credit the confidence and skills they gained to their participation in the OTSC.

Of her OTSC experience, Cat says, “I love the experience of the skills competition. At first it’s nerve wracking, but then you get into the flow.” She also loves attending the OTSC to see all the other students showcasing their skills. The only sad part about the competition, she says, is that there just isn’t enough time to check out what everyone else is doing! For Tony, his gold medal at the 2013 OTSC, followed by a gold medal at national competition, solidified his drive to get into the auto body repair industry.

Competing for the first time in 2013, and then again in 2014, Cat took home gold at the OTSC in 2014 and earned a spot on Team Ontario for the national competition. By competing in the OTSC, Cat has been introduced to numerous contacts in the auto body industry – and in fact, it’s how she landed her job at Excellence Auto Collision. Just by competing at the OTSC, she has received several job recommendations, and remembers thinking “Wow, I’m really here,” as industry reps introduced themselves, and spoke of job opportunities for her after the competition; she returned from the OTSC with a stack of business cards from new industry contacts.

Planning to start her post-secondary studies in auto body repair at Centennial College within the next year, Cat says she “stoked” about having two more years to compete in the OTSC at the post-secondary level. But yet Cat is humble about her early career success fresh out of high school; she says, “When you think you’re the best, that’s when you stop learning.”

In the meantime, Cat and Tony will continue to hone their auto body repair and painting skills at Excellence Auto Shop as they begin their apprenticeship journeys – we wish them success in all of their career pursuits.