RDP celebrates apprentice performances at 2024 skills competitions
Red Deer Polytechnic (RDP) celebrated its talented apprentices for their performance in the 2024 skills competitions in a Building on Excellence event October 9.
Throughout 2024, RDP apprentices earned one gold, one silver, and two bronze medals at the Skills Canada Alberta competition. Ben Rainforth, a welding apprentice, also earned a gold medal at Skills Canada National in 2023, the fifth straight gold for RDP. This led to an opportunity to compete in the WorldSkills Competition in Lyon, France, where Rainforth took home bronze.
“It’s felt pretty crazy. It was a long time coming; I’ve been competing in skills for six years now, so it’s kind of a dream I never really thought was possible and all of a sudden it became a reality,” Rainforth shared.
He competed against 38 countries at Worldskills and spent a year preparing, even travelling to Huntsville, Alabama for training competitions. Rainforth explained that competitors only get one shot at attending Worldskills, and as he has just aged out of the provincial and national competitions, his focus is turning to training future competitors.