Medal swoop at WorldSkills
18 May 2006
A Kangan Batman TAFE vehicle painting apprentice and a PC Support student won Gold and five other Kangan Batman TAFE students took out the top silver and bronze medals at Australia's biggest trade skills competition, WorldSkills.
They were among only thirty-six Victorians to win medals at the 'Skill Olympics' competition at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Held on May 5 to 7, WorldSkills 2006 involved more than 400 of the country's outstanding apprentices, trainees and vocational students in over 40 skill categories.
Gold medal winner, PC Support student Shaun Clarke, said the win came as 'a bit of a shock.'
'Day one went well, and I thought I stuffed up on Day Two of the competition, but I guess my work on the last day made up for it,' Shaun said. 'My studies at Kangan Batman TAFE definitely helped me prepare for the competition.'
Shaun's teacher, Sarah MacKinnon, said he was a quiet and polite student who had a 'terrific way of solving problems.'
'I encouraged him to apply for WorldSkills because he is so talented. Shaun is perfect for the industry, because he's always keen and enthusiastic about nutting out problems,' she said. "He was great when we had problems within the classroom, because he'd just jump on the Internet, trawl through stuff and download fixes.'
Kangan Batman TAFE took two of the three medals on offer in the Vehicle Painting category, with Stuart Aisbett, 20, from Moe, winning Kangan Batman's second Gold medal and Rick Smith from South Morang winning Bronze. A third year vehicle painting apprentice, Stuart was impressed by the competition standards. 'It was harder than I thought it would be - a very close competition,' he said. 'In the end, there were only two points out of a hundred between me and the silver medal winner.'
Stuart praised the supportive staff at Kangan Batman TAFE, and his boss at Allan's Panels in Moe for their mentoring before the competition.
'They encouraged me to lift my standards, and I did extra work at weekends to train for WorldSkills,' he said. 'It's a very worthwhile way to really test your ability.' Stuart is looking forward to going on to represent Australia in the next WorldSkills International Competition in Japan next year.
Kangan Batman TAFE WorldSkills 2006 Medal Winners
Gold
- Shaun Clarke (Pascoe Vale)
- PC Support
- Stuart Aisbett (Moe)
- Vehicle Paint
Silver
- Robert Piper (Vermont)
- Auto Electrical
- Blake Seeley (Whittlesea)
- VETIS Horticulture
Bronze
- Fernando Gamero (Glenroy)
- IT Software
- Rick Smith (South Morang)
- Vehicle Paint
- Hernan Gomez (Burwood)
- Web Design
Kangan Batman TAFE also acknowledges the hard work of automotive apprentices Michael Hall, James Cook, Simon Dangerfield, Matthew Spinner, Steve Black and Rohan Parsons, all of whom competed at the weekend.
