Skills, and lots of them, will be on full display for Education Week at Aberdeen Centre on March 4.
The morning begins with fashion technology and website and graphic design competitions for students from the Richmond School District.
More students will follow those skills up with displays of physics ingenuity, as well as public speaking.
It’s all part of the non-profit Skills Canada BC’s regional competitions, leading up to the provincial competition on April 13, aimed at promoting technology and trade careers.
Taking part in the spaghetti bridge competition will be Grade 9 Boyd secondary student Annabel Tse.
“The key is to use as many triangles, because they’re stronger. And we can’t just use as much spaghetti as we can, there’s a weight limit,” she said.
The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C is helping run the bridge competition.
Architect and engineer Hamid Ghanbari, past chair of APEGBC, hopes the dry pasta competition inspires young kids to get involved in science, especially physics.
“The kids learn engineering concepts from this. And as important is the fact the kids learn teamwork. The third part is that they need to present their bridges, so there’s a communication aspect to this. And in the meantime they’re having fun,” said Ghanbari.
“At first I wasn’t into physics at all, but now I’m a little interested in it,” said Annabel’s classmate, Emily Lin.
Meanwhile, more Boyd students plan on participating in the skills competition, as prospective public speakers.
Grade 10 students Jean Oh and Thidarat Phoosit will compete in public speaking.
“I enjoy speaking because I get to show my personality. To be honest I’m a pretty shy person, but when I’m up there, I feel like I can do anything. It’s not about winning but rather the experience I gain from it,” said Thidarat
“When you’re in a small classroom of just 20 people, it’s almost more uncomfortable than being up on a stage with lots of people. You don’t have to focus so much on a few people.” said Jean.
Winners of the regional competitions may go on to the provincial championships and, if successful there, the nationals in new Brunswick later in the year.
Skills Canada BC competition schedule – March 4, Aberdeen Centre
8:30 a.m. – Fashion technology
9 a.m. – Graphic design
10 a.m. – Gravity vehicle
10 a.m. – Website design
11 a.m. – Spaghetti bridge
11 a.m. – Public speaking
11:30 a.m. – Potential energy vehicle
- EdCom is produced by the Richmond School District and published by the Richmond News.
