NorthTec students Curtis Hartley (Kaitaia) and Rod Nelson (Whangarei) won gold and silver medals respectively at the WorldSkills NZ National competition held in Christchurch last week (subs 22-26 September), with Curtis also winning the 'Best in Region' award for the Northland region.

WorldSkills is an international organisation established with the aim of encouraging young people to achieve excellence in vocational training. WorldSkillsNZ organises regional and national competitions where young people from around the country test their vocational skills across a range of skills from the particular trades area in which they are studying and working.

Three other members of the Northland WorldSkills team were also in the medals. Ben Roche (Warkworth) won a gold medal in the bricklaying category and Johannes Willemen (Whangarei) and Megan Anderson (Whangarei) won silver medals in their respective categories of printing and hospitality. Megan was trained by NorthTec hospitality tutor Pete Nicholl.

"Curtis has regularly travelled down to Whangarei to train at NorthTec's Future Trades trade training facility since being selected for the national finals earlier this year," NorthTec's Automotive Coordinator and tutor Simon Phelps. "His commitment to preparing for the competition really paid off."

Other team members also put in a huge amount of effort to prepare for the competition. Welding competitor Matthew Heaps trained with NorthTec tutor and past WorldSkills competitor Leon Ducrot.

WorldSkills competitors must all be 22 years old or younger to compete at national and international level and the standard that they must meet to do well in the series of tasks they have to complete is very high.

"You really do see the very best young New Zealanders competing in their categories at the national event," said NorthTec automotive tutor Dave Williams. "It's a hard thing for trades students to put themselves out there and perform under pressure while everyone is watching."

Gold and silver medal winners at the national WorldSkills event have the opportunity to be selected to represent New Zealand at the WordSkills International championship which will be held in London nextOctober.

NorthTec's success in the automotive category builds on the past success of automotive graduate Marcel Woods. Marcel won the category at national level and then went on to achieve 10th place at the WorldSkills International event held in Calgary, Canada last year.

"WorldSkills is a fantastic competition that leads to international exposure for the winners," said Simon Phelps.

Once the New Zealand WorldSkills team have been chosen the competitors will begin fundraising in earnest for their trip to the international competition.

(N.B. Simon Phelps is also WorldSkills NZ regional chair for Northland and was Chief Judge in the Automotive Technology category at the WorldSkills NZ National competition. Fellow NorthTec tutors Dave Williams, Gareth Edwards, Pete Nicholl and Leon Ducrot were also judges at the national competition).

NorthTec is the Tai Tokerau (Northland) region's largest provider of tertiary education, with campuses and learning centres in Whangarei, Kerikeri, Rāwene, Kaikohe and Kaitaia. NorthTec also has over 60 community-based delivery points from Coatesville in rural Rodney to Ngataki in the Far North.