NRC students strike Bronze Silver & Gold at Worldskills UK

The winning medalists were announced by TV presenter Steph McGovern, at a special event streamed live from her Channel 4 Packed Lunch TV studio on Friday afternoon.

Earlier this month, more than 400 students, apprentices and young professionals did battle in 63 disciplines at 22 venues across the UK in November to be recognised as the very best in the UK in their field.

Over 3,000 competitors registered for the prestigious vocational skills competition back in March 2021. To reach the national finals, competitors had to make it through the fiercely competitive regional qualifying rounds by completing a series of tasks in their specific skill area. When the marks from competitors across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were collated, the top eight secured a final spot a chance to qualify for the 2022 WorldSkills World Finals in Shanghai.

The national finals are traditionally held at the NEC, Birmingham but, because of Covid restrictions, this year’s finals were held in different locations across the UK.

With eight finalists – four teams of two - in the Industrial Robotics category either current or former Engineering students at Northern Regional College in Ballymena, the College was invited the host the Industrial Robotics final.

The Industrial Robotics finalists were Cameron Middleton, Adam Kirkpatrick (Hammer Basher and Sparky), Jude Moore, Aaron Stevenson (The Athletes), Brennan Wilson and Louie Heath (2 Dudes and 1 Robot), Thomas Simpson and Julia Millar (The Cyborgs). Aaron Stevenson and Jude Moore won a Bronze Medal, Cameron Middleton and Adam Kirkpatrick won a Silver Medal and Brennan Wilson and Louie Heath struck Gold.

Another NRC representative and medal winner was Savannah Hodgins who won a Silver Medal in 3D Digital Game Art. Savanah who competed in the 3D Digital Games Art in Manchester, has progressed to Ulster University where she is doing a BDes (Hons) in Animation.

Other students who represented Northern Regional College in the national finals were: Lydia Fletcher, second year Level 3 IT student at the College’s Coleraine campus, who qualified for the IT Software Solutions for Business final which was in Lanarkshire; and Jonathon Wilsdon who competed in the Web Design in Weston-Super-Mare.