ProfSkills: Woodworking competitions were held at the Vitebsk State Technological College
The best students of the 1st and 2nd years of specialties related to woodworking competed at the competence center.
As explained by Tatyana Evtukhovskaya, Deputy Director for Production Training, the contestants had to make a stool, starting from creating a drawing, preparing blanks, assembly, to sanding and perfecting the finished product.
The students' skills were evaluated by experienced woodworking experts – production training masters of the college, Maksim Sivakov (national expert) and Sergey Klyoss.
– Using a computer program, we check all gaps, every woodworking joint, and assess the quality of the finished product, – explained Maksim Sivakov, who graduated from the college himself and has been working there for about 20 years.
According to the master, expensive, high-tech modern equipment from Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, and China helps to train in the latest wood processing technologies, including lumber sawing, drying, manufacturing of joinery and construction products, and furniture made from laminated particleboard. Woodworking machines, lines, and electric tools are actively used in international competitions. This equipment is updated every year.
The competitive aspect in the educational process allows identifying talented students, enhancing the prestige of working professions, and helps students better master innovative technologies and high-tech equipment, according to the college staff. Here, in the training of specialists in the woodworking industry, a practice-oriented learning model is actively implemented, using the educational experience of Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Russia.
Participation in the competition provides experience, improves skills, and stimulates interest in professional growth. By observing each other, the students discover new technological techniques, noted Olga Budrik, a methodologist at the center of competencies.
– I purposefully came here to study, as I helped my grandfather in his carpentry workshop since childhood, absorbing the atmosphere related to woodworking. In the future, I would like to work in my chosen specialty of "carpenter, frame maker, wood processing machine operator," shared Kirill Yupatov, a first-year student from Vitebsk.
The young men have an inspiring example before their eyes – successful college graduates who continue to work at enterprises in the regional center or have started their own businesses. For instance, Denis Shinkevich, a graduate of 2021 in the specialty "technician-technologist," head of furniture production for a Moscow firm, and winner of the III Republican Professional Skills Competition WorldSkills Belarus 2018 (in the "Carpentry" competency), was a guest at the competition. He is grateful to the college for the practically demanded specialty that helped him find himself.
According to the results of the competition, Stanislav Misyura became the winner. The young man will represent the college at the regional stage of the VI Republican Professional Skills Competition according to ProfSkills standards. Alexey Lubov took second place, and Andrey Tereshkin took third.