St. Thomas Aquinas Grade 12 student, Travis Biehn, won bronze at the recent Skills Ontario competition that saw him build the framing for a doghouse in 7 hours.
"It was really nice! It was a nervous experience going into it and building it, but it was nice knowing I got third place. It feels good," said Biehn.
Biehn and fellow Saint, Dustin Sewell won the northern division in early April and competed in the provincial championships last week against 19 other students from across Ontario. Biehn spoke about how he prepared for the competition.
"Just looked over some carpentry stuff. Be prepared for putting up all the studs and stuff like that," he said.
The top three winners were announced in a live stream yesterday by Skills Ontario.
Both boys had to build a doghouse based on plans sent to them the morning of the competition by Skills Ontario. They had three and a half hours in the morning and three and a half hours in the afternoon to complete the task. They were not allowed to ask their teacher or anyone else for help or advice. The entire building process was live-streamed to ensure accountability.
Biehn spoke about how he got into carpentry in the first place.
"When I was younger I liked putting things together and building stuff. When I came to TA I took the construction course and that helped me quite a bit. Then I went over to Jarnel Contracting and it was a great experience there. I learned a lot of stuff.
The Grade 12 student plans to go into an apprenticeship after graduation followed by college as he looks to carve out a career in carpentry.