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A Nescot Computing apprentice has fulfilled his ambition of five years by winning a Medallion of Excellence an elite international competition.
Shane Carpenter, an apprentice with BAE Systems, was the sole UK competitor in the IT and Enterprise category of WorldSkills International, taking part as an IT Network Administrator.
Speaking before the contest, Shane described representing his country as ‘an extraordinary feeling’, and said he was determined to make the UK proud.
Frances Rutter, CEO and Principal at Nescot, praised Shane for his success and thanked his tutor, Suresh Kamadchisundaram, for his support.
“This is a phenomenal achievement, and Shane has made the whole college and the entire country proud,” she added.
“Shane surpasses his own successes year after year, so we can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him.”
Shane joined Nescot as a 16-year-old Level 3 student in 2012. He finished his qualification with a D*D*D* profile, the highest possible, and with 21 units instead of the usual 18.
He was then offered a scholarship to Kings College London to read Computer Science, and would have been the first in his family to go to university, but decided to do an apprenticeship with Nescot.
Shane entered WorldSkills UK in 2013. He won his heat at the regional competition, but said he was so nervous at the national final in Birmingham the following year that he didn’t place in the medals.
Despite this, he set himself the audacious goal of winning a medal at the biennial global contest. He went on to compete at the national finals twice more, winning silver in 2014, and in 2015 made the UK Squad for Abu Dhabi.
He took part in an intensive training and selection regime, and then found out he’d reached the final UK team in Manchester last month.
“Shane is a fantastic ambassador for Nescot and our higher apprenticeships in Computing,” said his tutor, Suresh Kamadchisundaram.
“He has worked relentlessly to get to where he is now, giving up many evenings and weekends to reach this goal.”
WorldSkills is described as the Olympics of skills, driving excellence in technical education through competition.
Competition begins with regional heats, followed by the national finals held in Birmingham in November each year.
Students are then chosen to join the UK Squad, with intensive training and selection towards creating the eventual team who will represent the country at the biennial international WorldSkills.
Nescot has a proud history of WorldSkills success, winning 11 gold medals, eight silver and three bronze at the national competition since 2010.