Heather Wright/The Independent

Ryan Beattie is getting ready to compete against the best student welders in Canada.

The LCCVI student was recently the Gold medal winner at the Skills Ontario welding competition in Toronto, opening the door to the Canadian championships in Toronto May 28.

His welding teacher, Johnny Dawson, says Beattie and his LCCVI teammates Gauri Patel and Brayden Anderson swept the regional championship to make it to the provincial challenge. Dawson isn’t sure how Patel and Anderson fared – the rankings are released later – but Beattie took home the top prize after taking five hours to complete the assigned project.

“It’s been an unreal run for him,” said Dawson of Beattie’s win. “He’s a great kid and honestly a really strong ambassador for the trades and for our community.”

Beattie has been honing his craft at St. Clair Mechanical in Brigden this semester where he has a full-day co-op placement.

Dawson’s father owns the business and the welding teacher approached Beattie about a possible placement.

“He saw my talents in the welding class and then offered me, if I wanted, to have a co-op there for a semester,” he said.

He credits that co-op placement at St. Clair for his advanced skills which are taking him to the Canadian Skills competition.

“They’ve given me pretty much all the tools I need to succeed,” Beattie says. “They’re constantly giving me more materials to practice.”

The company also uses the same welders as the students use in competition, which is a big advantage.

“So they just set me up with that, and then when I get there to Toronto, it’ll be the same welder that I’m used to. So it’s the resources they give me I’m very grateful for.”

He’s also grateful for the time he can put in at the welding bench each day.

“It takes a lot of time to learn your speed, your heat and everything to make it a good weld. You’re always just making sure you’re catching your edges and you’re not leaving big holes on the two pieces of metal you’re trying to weld together. You want it to be like one consistent bead with no holes in there.”

Beattie is looking forward to the national competition. He’ll get a blueprint of the welding project in advance to study it. But, Beattie says, during the competition, organizers give them new plans and “throw a curve at you” and change some of the welds.

“You got to really pay attention and read the print so you don’t do something wrong.”

The LCCVI student admits waiting for the competition to begin can be a bit nerve wracking but just for a minute or two. “When I started welding and put my earplugs in, and I kind of just zoned out and started doing my own thing.”

LCCVI is raising money to send Beattie to the competition. If you’re interested in contributing, you can contact the school at 519-882-1910.