Level 2 Electrical Installation student Luke Arter has come 1st and won a gold medal at this year’s KFE4Skills contest, beating students from across Kent.
KFE4Skills is an annual competition in which students from East Kent Colleges Group, MidKent College and North Kent College compete in a range of skill-based competitions. Challenges on the day assess how students apply their knowledge to practical tasks. The Trades finals were hosted inside the Excel building at EKC Folkestone College, home to their Construction department.
Luke was challenged with installing a wiring system to a pre-determined plan, as well as creating safety components so that wires weren’t exposed. He had four hours over the course of the day to look over the initial plans and complete his system, before it was assessed by a panel of judges.
Speaking after his challenge, Luke was confident that he had done his best on the day, saying: “The contest seemed to go well, everything that I had to do was done on time and I couldn’t have done any better.”
Luke also enjoyed the competition element that KFE4Skills brought to his learning, saying: “It’s quite nice to have a bit of friendly competition with the other colleges and has allowed me to meet other students and staff. I’ve also been able to improve my timekeeping and management skills as I’ve been working against the brief.
After the challenge, Luke’s electrical installation was assessed on various criteria, from understanding the initial plans to the quality of installation, attention to health and safety and the overall appearance of the work. The electrical challenge was judged by EKC Canterbury College’s Head of Built Environment Gregor Macgregor.
For his efforts, Luke was awarded 1st Place and won a coveted KFE Gold Medal. When asked afterwards his advice for other students thinking of taking part, he said: “Just go for it – I just went for as I had just passed a practical test before and thought taking part was worth a shot. I would say that if you’re learning with your own tools, take them to KFE. It was great for me to be familiar with my equipment before I started so I didn’t have to get used to new tools.”
In attendance with Luke on the day was Ross Evernden, Head of Technical Industries for EKC Dover College.
Ross said of Luke’s win: “It’s been great to see Luke achieve today here at KFE4Skills. He has worked so hard throughout and has been focused every step of the way. Events like this give our students experiences and key skills that will set them up for their future. We can’t wait to attend next year.”
Many congratulations to Luke, and we can’t wait to see what he achieves during the rest of his studies at EKC Dover College. If you would like to see the full list of winners from KFE4Skills24, as well as more information about the competitions, please visit the KFE website.
You can also explore our Construction courses to see how you can gain skills and achieve like Luke.
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