Approximately 120 Grade 7/8 students from across the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) gathered in Kemptville on April 9 to compete in the 2024 SKLZ Competition.
Teams of students worked on five categories of building: Green Energy (turbine building), Technology Challenge (hydraulic mining challenge), Construction Challenge (tiny homes), LEGO Mechanical Engineering and LEGO Robotics.
The initiative, which began in 2018 with one school, has grown to 11 schools and includes the two new Lego robotic events. The competition incorporates problem solving, design challenges and teamwork.
Participating schools included Glengarry District High School, Pleasant Corners Public School, Seaway District High School, Russell High School, Char-Lan District High School, Athens District High School, St. Lawrence
Secondary School, Carleton Place High School, Rideau District High School, North Grenville District High School and North Dundas District High School.
Judges for the event included a coordinator from the Wind Turbine Technician Program at St. Lawrence College, representatives from the Mining Industry Human Resources Council and Local 93 Carpenters Union, two building systems specialists from the UCDSB, retired engineer and Ward 5 Trustee Michel Labonte and a secondary school construction teacher. We thank them for their help in making this event a success.
Gold medal winners from each event will now move on to the Skills Ontario Competition in Toronto on May 6. Results of UCDSB students moving on are outlined below:
Green Energy: Glengarry DHS: Shahnoor Bajwa, Callan MacDonald, Shaelynn MacLeod, Mae Ella McCormick
Char-Lan DHS: Mac Menard, Billy Cordner, Lily Major, Mila Kinloch Seaway DHS: Julianne Barnum, Garrett Templeton, Seb Desrosiers, Lincoln Robinson Technology:
Char-Lan DHS: Jade Malyon, Reeghan O’Farrell, Lexa Lalonde, Olivia Tyo
Glengarry DHS: Lucy Cox, Cedric Jund, Kees McIntosh, Greg Oud
St. Lawrence SS: Patrick Bugajski, Muhammad Jan, Shabir Sultani, Grace Tokali
Construction: Glengarry DHS: Keaton MacKinnon, Callum MacPherson, Xavier Stang, Ben Wood Char-Lan DHS: Wyatt Rombough, Grant Small, Karianne Boyer, Adessa Brennan
Pleasant Corners PS: Reuben Zihlmann, Emma Beraha, Declan Ingram, Evalie Funke
LEGO Mechanical Engineering:
Carleton Place HS: Nick Culhane, Simon Leger Thomas Ogilvie, William Phillips
Rideau DHS: Emmett Darling, Siôn Thomas, Blake Thomas, Jane French
North Grenville DHS: Kari McKay, Daweson Gilchrist, Addison Kleiss
LEGO Robotics:
Rideau DHS: Emmett Darling, Siôn Thomas, Blake Thomas, Jane French
Char-Lan DHS: Brooklyn Murray, Saranniya Kugananthan, Mia St. Louis North Grenville DHS: Matthew Grus, Sam McDermott, Jordan Christopher, Madden Leonard
A video documenting the event, produced by two Grade 7 students, is available on the UCDSB YouTube Channel.
