St. Lawrence College Students Bring Home the Hardware from Provincial Skills Competition

L-R: Makenna Cooney-Papke, Nyssa Valentini, and Nathan Orr. – Submitted Photo

Brockville/Kingston/Cornwall – Three students from St. Lawrence College (SLC) brought home medals from the Skills Ontario competition, which was held May 1-2, 2023, in Toronto. SLC was proudly represented by 13 student competitors across Carpentry, Masonry, Auto Services, Culinary Arts, Millwright, Precision Machining, and Welding.

Esthetician student Makenna Cooney-Papke won the gold medal with Nyssa Valentini beside her with the silver medal. They competed against four other students from across Ontario in Advanced Facial with BT Micro, Manicure with nail art, Pop Art-themed fantasy makeup, and Body Treatment including body polish and massage. Makenna will move on to compete in the national skills competition on May 25th and 26th in Winnipeg. Makenna and Nyssa were expertly coached by their faculty, Diana Boboti-Senis and Karen Gale.

Makenna’s gold medal is the latest in a long streak of wins at the provincial skills competition for students in SLC’s Esthetician program; since 2010 they have won 11 gold medals at the provincial level.

Nathan Orr, a Machinist Apprenticeship student, brought home the silver medal for Precision Machining. The competition included conventional machining to the accuracy of 0.001 inch, producing a turned part using a manual horizontal lathe as well as a manufactured manifold using a manual vertical mill. Nathan’s faculty coaching team was comprised of Aidan Wornes, Clint Lawrence, Bruce McGregor, and John McGrath. Nathan’s silver medal is indicative of year-over-year success in the team’s ability to cultivate talent in their students and prepare them for the rigours of competition.

“We’re so proud of the continued success of the Esthetician program in preparing students to compete and win at the provincial level and the Mechanical team’s inaugural Skills Ontario medal,” said Daniel Liao, Dean, of Applied Science, Technology & Trades. “These achievements are a testament to the hard work of our amazing students and the dedication and professionalism of our faculty.”