Posted: 23/03/16
Engineering students prepare for success
A regional skills competition designed to seek out some of the best engineering talents was hosted at West Nottinghamshire College last week.
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Taylor Grainger from Northampton College took the first place medal in the engineering and manufacturing category
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Brandon Myatt-Bennett from Chesterfield College came second in the engineering and manufacturing category
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West Notts College's Rudi Stacey came second place in the welding category
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Engineering competitor Josh Farr working on the milling machine
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Students competing in the welding competition had to use aluminium, stainless steel and carbon steel in their designs
The college celebrated a medal win by 18-year-old student Rudi Stacey, who came second in the welding category of the skills competition. Rudi is currently studying the Performing Engineering Operations Level 2 programme.
Prepare East Midlands competitions, which have been set up by the Association of Colleges East Midlands WorldSkills Steering Group, is helping to bring together learners across the area in a number of vocational areas giving them the opportunity to progress to regional and national WorldSkills competitions.
On Thursday (17 March) it was the turn of engineering students from West Nottinghamshire College, Northampton College, Buxton and Leek College and Chesterfield College who put their talents to the test.
Nineteen students competed in the engineering and manufacturing and welding challenges, with six of these currently studying at West Nottinghamshire College’s state-of-the-art Engineering Innovation Centre in Kirkby-in-Ashfield.
Second-place winner in welding, Rudi, said: “I didn’t feel under too much pressure really during the competitions. I just concentrated on putting the skills I already know to good use and did my very best.”
Competing in the welding category along with Rudi from West Notts was Nathaniel Lewis-Wilson, Liam Crick, Jonathan Hunt and Callum Beech. They had to perform three main manual fusion processes completing four weld tests and read and interpret drawings accurately whilst using welding equipment appropriately. The task took up to seven hours to complete using aluminium, stainless steel and carbon steel.
Competing in the engineering and manufacturing category from West Notts was Joshua Farr. Joshua put his skills to the test by milling and turning materials and completing two test pieces. He was required to read and interpret drawings and use tools appropriately to suit working with mild steel and brass.
Head of engineering Brian Malyan said: “This is the first skills competition of its kind to be held within our engineering curriculum. Everyone who took part seemed to enjoy the challenge and it gave newcomers to the competition arena a feel for working under pressure.
“Well done to everyone who took part and we’re delighted to have Rudi take the second place in the welding category.”
