By: Kathryn Atherton


Tuesday March 9th and Wednesday, March 10th marked the first time the Niagara Catholic District School Board hosted the NCDSB Skills Competition under one roof. Held at the former Canadian Tire Building on Niagara Street, Welland, the competition garnered serious technicians in nineteen areas of expertise, with the exception of the culinary arts that was held at Niagara College.

Notre Dame, teacher organizer, Kevin Grand, was extremely proud of his team representing Notre Dame as they came up on top in several areas. Nick Giammarco scored top honors in Desktop Publishing, promoting him to the provincial competition in Waterloo in May. “It was a great opportunity for all of us,” remarked Giammarco. “I have been working toward this for four years.”

A highlight for Giammarco was receiving a jacket bearing the Skills Competition logo that he designed for Director of Education, John Crocco.

The crowd particularly enjoyed seeing NCDSB Chair, Kathy Burtnick’s struggle to get the gold medal over Nick’s hairdo. “It was definitely a laugh at the end of a stressful two days,” joked Giammarco.

Successful winners going on to regional competitions include Adam Lalama and Danny Pawlik for their second place win in audio/video production. “Making a sixty second commercial in a couple of hours was really stressful but forced us to think on our feet!”

Other Notre Dame winners include Connor Johnstone, third place desktop publishing, Julian Butera, third place electrical, Jacob Gaudet, second place woodworking and Tricia Zaremba, third place photography.

Commenting on her participation and third place win, Tricia Zaremba loved the chance to compete saying, “These past two days were a great way to showcase some of my work and promote tech studies.”