Andrew Christensen works on a project during the UK skills championships held the end of March.
Welding student Andrew Christensen is about six months away from competing in the competition of a lifetime. And with it, could become TRU’s first medalist at WorldSkills.
Being held in the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi, WorldSkills will feature more than 1,200 competitors from more than 70 countries in more than 50 categories.
It’s a big event, which makes it an even bigger deal. To those ends, Christensen is spending up to 50 hours a week training for what is not only an adventure of a lifetime, but also one that is already opening doors and bringing him into contact with people who can change his life forever.
To bring everyone up to speed on the extend of his training, the options ahead of him, welding in general and other matters, Christensen was recently a guest on Talk on the Experts on Kamloops station Radio NL. The conversation with show host Paul Graham aired April 16, 2017 and what follows is the episode broken into four convenient pieces.
Clip 1 — 6:54
Why welding, trainers and mentors, different styles of welding, training schedule
Clip 2 — 8:50
Explaining one of the competition projects, second ever from TRU to qualify for WorldSkills, once in a lifetime experience, how life has temporarily changed
Clip 3 — 8:20
Sponsorship and expenses, putting education and work on hold, robotic welding, career interests in aerospace and nuclear power plants
Clip 4 — 6:05
WorldSkills leads to great career opportunities, judging criteria, why aluminum is difficult to weld, mom’s a big fan
Listen to other episodes of Talk to the Experts
- Reversing downward STEM trend
- Sustainability and environmental action
- Literacy more than reading and writing
