A Richmond resident and Kwantlen Polytechnic student is hoping his mechatronics skills will bring him gold this week at a national skills competition in Quebec City.
Second-year student Nguyen Cao An (Ryan) Do is one of four Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) students representing the school at the 2024 Skills Canada National Competition this Thursday and Friday.
Every year, Skills Canada hosts competitions to promote skilled trade and technology careers to Canadian youth in more than 40 categories.
Those who win at the national level will represent Canada internationally at the World Skills International Competition.
Do and his teammate Jorge Lorenzana Lopez won gold in the provincial skills competition in the mechatronics category, which allowed them to advance to the national challenge.
“It felt so good,” said Do, adding that going up against BCIT’s mechatronics team was a great opportunity because they have a "more equipped" program.
“They have more equipment than KPU because mechatronics is still a new program here."
Mechatronics is a branch of engineering studies that combines electronics, mechanics, and software programming. The field of study deals with robotics, control systems and the automated manufacturing industry.
Last year, Do and Lorenzana Lopez became the first team from B.C. in over two decades to compete in the mechatronics category, winning gold.
The international student duo is aiming for first place in nationals this year.
When asked what has been the most challenging part of preparing for the competition, Do explained his daily commute to school has been the most time-consuming for him as he travels between Richmond and KPU's Cloverdale campus.
It takes him three hours a day just to transit back and forth and he goes to school four days a week.
"I don't have a lot of time to practice, but hopefully this year we are prepared well," said Do.
The mechatronics student has some anxiety building as he prepares for the competition.
“I’m absolutely nervous for nationals because this is my last year, my last opportunity. I want to bring something back not only for my school but for myself," he added.
"Of course being able to compete at Worlds would be a dream come true."
Do told the Richmond News he came to Canada to study and gain practical experience after receiving his engineering degree in Vietnam.
“It's really important for me to study here because in Vietnam I just studied a bunch of theories, calculations and other stuff, but I didn’t understand how to apply these in the real world," he said.
"Studying here, I was able to use these theories in practical experiences."
Do hopes to be an automation engineer where he can be a program technician or engineer for factories.
"Automation is really important for factories (in Vietnam) so that's the reason why I want to study this major."
KPU horticulture students David Craig and Kyle Kant will also be representing B.C. in the landscape category.
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