Provincial Champion Horticulture team showcases AC talent at Skills Canada Competition
Posted on Monday, May 27th, 2019
Two of our very own Horticultural Industries, Blaise Mombourquette and Thomas Hawley are competing as a team for the second year in a row at the 2019 Skills Canada National Competition (SCNC). Just one point behind the gold-medal team in 2018, the duo aims to improve on last year’s performance and become national champions. Coached by AC professor and co-coordinator of the Horticultural Industries program, Steve Neumann, Mombourquette and Hawley plan on using speed and detail-orientation to bring home the gold this year.
Update detailed below.
Provincial champions at Skills Ontario in early May, Mombourquette expressed,
“It feels really good,” he said of their provincial win. “We weren’t really sure; it was very close, really tight up to the last five minutes. So to come up with the win again, to be able to go to nationals again, is really just a treat and we’re happy to go.”
Taking place in Halifax, N.S. from May 28 – May 29, this year marks 25 years of the Skills Canada National Competition; the only national, multi-trade and technology competition for students and apprentices in the country. More than 550 competitors come from across Canada to participate in over 40 skilled trade and technology competitions. The focus of SCNC is to provide a platform where Canadians can compete at a national level, and with that it provides hands-on work experience related to skilled trade and technology careers.
Horticultural Industries is an Algonquin College two-year Ontario College Diploma program with a mandatory co-op work-term between level two and three of studies. Delivered in a compressed format over 16 months, the program incorporates key aspects of the evolving horticultural industries including sustainable urban agriculture, green roof and living wall technology, nursery production and management and urban and rural landscape design, installation and maintenance.
The work-term provides students with the opportunity to consolidate and apply acquired knowledge and skills and further develop their competencies within an industry sector of their choice. Employers range from Nurseries, waterparks, medical-grade cannabis companies, and more. Learn more about AC’s Horticultural Industries program, and how Algonquin College may help you find employment in urban food production, nurseries and garden centres, park systems, landscape design, construction and maintenance firms, the tree care industry, sales and service, consulting and teaching.
UPDATE: Blaise Mombourquette and Thomas Hawley are taking home GOLD from the 2019 SCNC. Congratulations, students! You have made us unbelievably proud.
image courtesy of Skills Ontario
- Posted in
- Blog