From blueprint to build and concept to code, approximately 115 Grade 7 and 8 students from across the Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) put their creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration skills to the test at the 2025 Intermediate SKLZ Competition in Kemptville on April 8. Three teams from Glengarry District High School (GDHS) won gold medals.
This hands-on initiative, which began in 2018 with just one school, continues to grow each year. This year’s event hosted students from nine UCDSB schools. Pleasant Corners Public School also participated.
Teams of students worked on six categories: TV/Video, Green Energy (wind turbine construction), Technology Challenge (hydraulic mining challenge), Construction Challenge (tiny homes), LEGO Mechanical Engineering and LEGO Robotics.
There were gold medal winning teams from GDHS were the Technology (Hydraulics Challenge) team ofAtley Lajoie, Callum MacPherson, Kenzie McRae and Xavier Stang; the Green Energy (Wind Turbine) team of Ruby Cox, Kacey Kivits, Aaden Walker and Ben Wood, and the Construction Challenge (Tiny Homes) team of Micheala Davidson, Cal MacDonald, Olivia MacLeod and Yannis Mbianda.
The competition emphasizes collaboration, innovation and problem solving, as students take on real-world design and engineering challenges. Judges for the event include local industry professionals, educators, and technical specialists who volunteered their time to evaluate student performance and creativity.
Gold medal winners from each event will now advance to represent the UCDSB at the Skills Ontario Provincial Competition in Toronto on May 5 and 6, 2025.
