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Skilled Surrey students bring home bronze bling

Clayton Heights Secondary teens make the medals at Skills Canada National Competition in Edmonton.
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Clayton Heights Secondary's Anthony Smith (left) and Tyler Hireen won bronze medals in their respective disciplines at the Skills Canada National Competition.

Clayton Heights Secondary is home to two of the most skilled students in the country.

Surrey students Tyler Hireen and Anthony Smith returned last week from the Skills Canada National Competition in Edmonton with bronze medals in welding and website development, respectively. The pair won gold in their categories at the provincials in April, and were among more than 500 students from across Canada competing at the national level.

“An opportunity to compete at this level and/or win a medal is quite an accomplishment. Our students represented our district well,” says Susan Chow, principal of career education for Surrey Schools.

Students are tested within exacting standards and against their peers in more than 40 trade and technology areas, from robotics and cooking to carpentry and computer animation. Earl Marriott Secondary students Nathaniel King, Oliver Hall, Adam Yue and Marlowe Ferris also competed at the national event following a gold win in the robotics category at the provincial skills competition.

The annual competition is one of the major initiatives that Skills Canada undertakes to raise awareness of the growing career opportunities in the trades and technologies. It’s anticipated that by 2020, there will be a trades shortage of about a million workers.