A Comox Valley high school student’s electronics prowess is getting national attention.
Highland Secondary Grade 11 student, Austin Harris, won silver in the Skills Canada National Electronics virtual competition that took place in late May.
Harris learned about his win during a virtual ceremony this past Tuesday.
To get to the national stage Harris first competed locally in a Regional competition in March and won the gold medal.
He then advanced to the provincial competition that was held virtually/remotely in April and once again won the gold medal.
“It was a great experience, and I had a great time competing,” Harris said.
“I can’t wait until next year’s competition where I will strive for the gold medal.”
The journey to the national stage for Harris was helped with the skills and knowledge developed in Comox Valley school programs that include:
- the ENTER Programs; NIDES 7842 Robotics Team;
- Highland Makerspace program; and
- the FIRST Robotics program.
Harris hopes to become a robotics engineer and is currently taking the Metal Mechanical Trades Sampler program at Mark R. Isfeld to build skills in metal fabrication and machining.
Skills Canada promotes careers in the skilled trade and technology sectors through regional, provincial and national competitions.
With COVID travel restriction in place, competitors in over 50 events from all the provinces and territories competed remotely.
Traditionally, the event is hosted in a different province year to year.
Next year’s event is scheduled to be held at Canada Place in Vancouver in June 2022.
