GCS hosts Worldskills Industrial Electronics regional heat

A group of Digital Technology students from Gower College Swansea have competed in a WorldSkills competition, held at the Tycoch campus in association with Semta and Premier EDA Solutions.

It was an intensive day with four main parts to the competition: a soldering/construction exercise; a theory paper; a prototype challenge using a breadboard and a software programming test.

The winners were named as Kieran Belton (Gold), Cody Wilks (Silver) and Ryan Thomas (Bronze).

“This Industrial Electronics regional heat was a real test of the students’ abilities and they performed exceptionally well,” says Curriculum Leader Steve Williams. “The judges, who were drawn from education and industry, were very impressed with their output. The three top performing students now have a nail-biting wait to see if they have scored high enough marks to go forward to the next stage of the competition at Birmingham’s NEC in November.”

On the same day as the regional heat, the Tycoch campus also hosted an ‘electronics forum’ which was attended by organisations including Elite Aerials, Engineering Education Scheme Wales, Uplands Computers, KSR Electronics, Electronics Services (Samsung Centre) and Vaughan Sound.

“This was almost a mini jobs fayre which gave students an opportunity to have an informal chat about possible employment opportunities in the local area,” adds Steve. “The event was very beneficial and we have agreed to set up a travelling Digital Technology forum which will be hosted by each company in turn. There is also the potential for them to assist us with mock interviews and the donation of specialist equipment which will aid teaching and learning in our workshops.”

Photos: Chris Costello