With the luck of the Irish on his side, Alex Edwards recently represented College of the North Atlantic (CNA) at the latest WorldSkills testing session.
“During my trip to Ireland, I attended a friendly cloud computing competition, where I, along with a group of other WorldSkills competitors from around the world, tried out a new platform that will be used in the WorldSkills Lyon 2024 competition,” he said, noting the competition isn’t that far away, September 10-15.
Edwards is currently enrolled in the Bachelor of Applied Information Technology: Systems and Network Cybersecurity program at Prince Philip Drive campus.
“I was heavily involved in Skills Canada at a young age, where I attended Skills Canada Intermediate Challenges in the TV/Video Production competitions and started attending other Skills Canada competitions when I was in college, first trying the IT Network Systems Administration competition at the Skills NL competition hosted on the Prince Philip Drive campus,” he said.
Student on cloud nine
Edwards is set to graduate in 2025 and says CNA has been a great fit for him.
“Compared to other universities and colleges that I was enrolled in previously, College of the North Atlantic provides a better experience, especially with more engaging content, as well as better instructors, in my opinion, than other places I have attended,” he said.
Richard Spencer, Instructional Lead of the Technology Career Pathway Program at CNA, accompanied Edwards on the trip.
“The trip to Ireland was fantastic! It was both a professional and cultural experience,” he said. “The Skills competition was intense but rewarding. Alex performed exceptionally well, demonstrating his expertise in cloud computing. It was a great opportunity to see how our training stacks up on an international level.”
During their stay they had the opportunity to visit some historic sites and meet some of the other competitors.
“Besides participating in the Skills competition, we explored the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin,” he said. “We also engaged in several networking events and workshops with other international teams.”
Spencer has been involved with WorldSkills since 2019 and has been the organization’s Deputy Chief Expert in Cloud Computing for 2022.
“I serve as a Team Canada WorldSkills expert and am heavily involved in organizing and running cloud computing contests,” he said. “I also train and mentor students for various competitions, ensuring they are well-prepared and confident in their skills.”
You can follow Andrew and the rest of the WorldSkills competitors from Canada by visiting their website or following them on social media.
