Information Technology students from Kangan Batman TAFE take out top awards in the regional WorldSkills competition
01 October 2002
Sam Shadi Serhan and Nick Barnes, both from Glenroy took out the Gold Medals in Information Technology at the WorldSkills regional competitions held recently.
Sam and Nick took part in the Information Technology category that is broken down into further three categories which are; IT Programming, Business Services and PC Support.
Sam Shadi Serhan from Kangan Batman TAFE took out the Gold Medal in the Business Services category and Nick Barnes who was representing Kangan Batman TAFE at the competitions took out the Gold Medal in the IT Programming category.
This year’s regional WorldSkills competitions were held at Holmesglen TAFE and Kangan Batman TAFE. More than 20 students from Information Technology and Multimedia took part in the three categories of Information Technology.
Not only did Kangan Batman TAFE students take out gold, they scooped the pools with the silver and the bronze medals in all areas of the Information Technology competition.
In the Business Services category along with Sam’s Gold, Ivan Yousif and Joseph Tassone took out the Silver Medals.
In IT Programming all the medals were taken out by Kangan Batman TAFE students. Nick Barnes took out the Gold, An Tran took the Silver Medal and Hanrong Cao took out the Bronze Medal.
In the third category, PC Support, Steven Corser took out the Silver Medal.
WorldSkills Australia is an organisation that conducts skill competitions in over 50 trade and skill categories.
Competitions are held in areas that are as diverse as bricklaying, garment making, commercial cookery, heavy vehicle mechanics, electrical installation and IT support.
WorldSkills Australia was established in 1982. It is an independent, non-profit organisation developed to promote the standards and status of vocational training and job skills.
Their mission is ‘to challenge young people, their teachers, trainers and employers to achieve world class standards in all industries and to promote the status of vocational education and training across Australia’.
Nick Barnes will represent Kangan Batman TAFE at the National WorldSkills Finals to be held from 24 to 26 October 2002 at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
After completing his Diploma in Information Technology at Kangan Batman TAFE, Nick is currently completing a bachelor’s degree in information systems at Latrobe University.
According to Nick it was because of Kangan Batman TAFE that he has been able to come so far. The reason he wants to represent Kangan Batman TAFE at the WorldSkills competitions is because he feels that Kangan Batman TAFE helped him achieve his goals.
“I wanted to go to university straight after Year 12, but when I did not get the scores to gain admission, I decided to do a diploma in information technology through Kangan Batman TAFE instead.”
“This was one of the best choices I could have made as the diploma has helped me get the scores to gain admission in the degree of my choice. Not only did I get admission in Latrobe University, I also got one year’s credits towards my degree for the subjects I studied at Kangan Batman TAFE,” he says.
Winners at the National Finals will have an opportunity to compete in the 37th International WorldSkills Competition that will be held from 19 to 22 June 2003 in St Gallen, Switzerland.
Last year Kangan Batman TAFE teachers helped coach Heath Williams of Adelaide who went out to win the Silver Medal in the PC and Network Support category in the 36th International WorldSkills Competition that was held in Seoul, South Korea in September 2001.
