The best in B.C. for skills in industrial mechanics is now the best in the nation.
College of New Caledonia (CNC) apprentice student Dustin Cathcart is bringing back a gold medal from the Skills Canada National Competition this week as the only tudent from our province in that division.
He beat out apprentice students from Manitoba and Alberta to claim the top prize.
The two-day event saw Cathcart fabricate a jack shaft base within .0001” tolerance and taking apart, checking, and reassembling a gearbox and a centrifugal pump.
“I felt confident with my work and was hoping for the best,” he said in a release. “It was challenging but definitely a great experience.”
Cathcart also won the same category at the Skills Canada B.C. in Abbotsford earlier this year, which qualified him for the national championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Instructor Sergio Jorquera was with his student on the east coast, explaining Cathcart overcame the many challenges he faced when fixing the gearbox.
“The machinery and circumstances were different from what he was used to,” Jorquera said in the same release. “I’m very proud of him.”
Cathcart studies at the CNC Quesnel Regional campus.
More than 550 students and apprentices from across the country competed at Skills Canada contest for the title of national champion in 44 skill areas.
