Students and their faculty mentors from the academic centres for Construction and Engineering Technologies, Arts Design and Information Technology and Hospitality and Culinary Arts trained for the competitions in plumbing, sheet metal, HVAC, electrical, culinary, and coding.
“For more than 50 years, George Brown College has been educating and training skilled trades professionals. This competition provides a preview of tomorrow’s leaders and showcases the talent, drive and passion our students exhibit in these fields,” says Dev Baichan, Associate Dean for the School of Apprenticeship and Skilled Trades.
Seven medals for our talented students
Building on last year’s success, the GBC team earned seven medals across a range of categories:
- Architectural Technology and Design
- Competitor: Kazuma Yoshimura
- Coach/Mentor: Hoda Barzegar Ganji
- Baking and Pastry Arts:
- Gold medal: Jaewon Sabina Lee
- Bronze medal: Vincent Willyanto
- Coach: Markus Elegino, Jennifer Lakhan-D’Souza
- Support: Daryll Hu, Cheung Ming Ngai, Thu Phuong Chloe Nguyen, Vanessa Dunne
- Coding:
- Competitors: Aadi Badola, Sokmontrey Sythat, Owen Beattie
- Coach: Andrew Rudder
- Culinary Arts:
- Gold medal: Negus King
- Bronze medal: Ajay Amolong
- Coaches: Trevor Ritchie, Andrew Evans, Nathan Hogan
- Support: Cielo Cruz, Francine May Adriosula, Owen Aves, Jiaqi George Li, Vanessa Dunne
- Electrical Installations:
- Gold medal: Jack Ensing
- Competitor: William Kiff
- Coach/Mentor: Bryan Heudier
- Heating Systems Technician:
- Competitors: Lucas Lima, Stefan Amaral
- Coaches/Mentors: Sergejs Golomedovs, Steven Racey
- Plumbing:
- Competitor: Samuel Sckrapnick
- Coaches/Mentors: Rainier Blundel, Bryan Heyl (back up advisor)
- Restaurant Service:
- Bronze medal: Alicia Sabatini
- Competitors: Pranay Tejash Vashi, Michael Dinh
- Coaches: Doris Miculan-Bradley, Andy Hickl-Szabo
- Sheet Metal Work:
- Silver medal: Jeffrey Fowler
- Competitor: Spencer Maddock
- Coach: Shayne Speck
“It is wonderful to see our students compete so well at the provincial level,” Rudi Fischbacher, Dean of the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts. “It takes a strong team effort on the part of our students, coaches and mentors to achieve this success and I would like to thank everyone for their contributions.”
The three gold medal winners now move on to the Skills Canada National Competition May 30-31 in Québec City. Gold medal winner Negus King also competed at Skills Canada in 2023 after winning gold in the 2023 Skills Ontario Competition in the Culinary Arts category.
Showing the possibilities
With a critical worker shortage in the sector, Skills Ontario shows the incredible career opportunities that exist and the wealth of knowledge at our fingertips.
Our updated presence within the Skills Ontario exhibition featured a popular interactive plumbing activity designed by Professor Rainier Bratsch-Blundel. Deputy Minister for College and Universities, David Wai, and many elementary and secondary students participated in the activity on-site.
Visitors to the GBC booth also enjoyed ‘Blue Gecko’ mocktails and dragees created by the Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts.
Congratulations to our entire team of students, coaches, mentors and booth volunteers on this year’s success.
Team GBC @ Skills Ontario
Booth Coordination: Dr.Adel Esayed, Dev Baichan, Rainier Bratsch-Blundel, Joey Dellemonache, Elina Cortez-Ralston, Vanessa Dunne, Derek Jensen, Jennifer Joseph, Nicola McLaughlin, Tara Montgomery-Ferguson, Bryan Mulveney, Abigail Shuster, Rob Slaney, Signe Sohrbeck, Shayne Speck and Jeff Steen.
Thank you to all of our exceptional booth volunteers from across the college.
