Three GMIT motor mechanic apprentices reach final of worldskills competition
The Tipperary, Meath and Cork students will compete in finals at TU Dublin (21 & 22 March)
Three GMIT motor mechanic apprentices, Jack Pollard from Fethard, Co Tipperary, Dion O’Sullivan from Macroom, Co Cork, and Craig O’Toole from Navan, Co Meath, have reached the final of the WorldSkills Ireland National Competition in the Automobile Technology Skills category. The finals are taking place in TU Dublin on Monday and Tuesday, 21 and 22 March .
Jack, Craig, and Dion were successful in the national preliminary competition which took place in January. The top six competitors from the preliminary competition will now compete in the national finals and the overall winner will train with the WorldSkills Ireland national team and represent Ireland at the 46th World Skills Competition in Shanghai in October this year (2022).
“The WorldSkills National Competition is intensive. As a finalist, you are competing against the best in the country, so the standard expected is extremely high”, explains Austin Kearns, Lecturer in Automotive Technology, GMIT School of Engineering.
“To have one competitor in the final of a WorldSkills Ireland event is a great achievement for any college, but to have three is outstanding. Jack, Dion, and Craig exhibited high levels of skill and technical proficiency while undertaking their apprenticeship training in GMIT, which prompted their lecturers to nominate them for the competition”, says James Boyle, Head of the GMIT Department of Engineering Apprenticeships.
“It’s a fantastic personal achievement for Jack, Dion, and Craig to reach the National WorldSkills finals, and a credit to their lecturing team in GMIT. The WorldSkills competition recognises the skills of apprenticeships and prepares these talented individuals for successful careers. Hopefully one of Jack, Dion or Craig will go on to represent Ireland in Shanghai at the WorldSkills competition”, adds Prof. Graham Heaslip, Head of School of Engineering.
For further details on GMIT Engineering School apprenticeship courses, please visit: https://www.gmit.ie/schools-campuses/school-of-engineering/department-of-engineering-apprenticeships
ENDS
Issued by Regina Daly, GMIT Communications & Press Officer, GMIT, Dublin Road, Galway.
0879618355 (m) regina.daly@gmit.ie www.gmit.ie/news
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