Thirty-five Niagara College students are preparing to compete against the best in the province at the Skills Ontario competition in Toronto, May 4 to 5.

Students from the Schools of Media, Trades, Technology, Environment and Horticulture, Culinary Arts, and Hospitality and Tourism will represent NC in 19 competitions that test their skills, problem-solving abilities, and composure under pressure.

One of the keys to their success: Great mentorship.

In the weeks and months leading up to the competition days, NC faculty guided and challenged students to sharpen their skills to compete against the top college students in the province.

Among them, Professor Frederick Graham designed a custom training panel for students in Electrical Engineering Technician and Technology programs to practice for the Automation and Control competition at Skills Ontario. Students in the programs competed for the first time in 2025 with one student finishing fifth.

Danielle Siwek works on a custom training control panel built by Professor Frederick Graham.

“This panel is very close to what they work on at Skills Ontario,” said Graham. “Part of the competition is doing the control wiring. Within four hours, students must wire the panel and use the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to program it to their specifications – it’s rigorous.”

Competitors are scored on how well wires are labelled and bundled, and that everything functions correctly and safely according to the Ontario Electrical Safety Code. Judges perform a check before competitors can power up.

“It’s a great experience for the students,” said Graham. “The competition is well put together – it’s impressive.”

As for the student competitors, here are a few of their stories:

Danielle Siwek

Danielle Siwek

Siwek of Welland joins the competition bringing hands-on experience with control panel wiring for industrial automation in manufacturing and assembly, gained through her Process Automation course and the first of two co-op placements in her NC program.

At Procon Constructors Inc. in Welland, Siwek supported automation work on wastewater treatment control panels. The co-op gave Siwek eight months of paid work experience.

“During co-op, I got to apply all the knowledge I learned and see the real-world application of everything I’m learning,” said Siwek.

Her experience didn’t begin there. High school electrical courses taught by a “passionate” teacher inspired her to continue.

Danielle Siwek and Professor Frederick Graham in the lab.

“I started working at a panel shop right out of high school where a lot of my coworkers took this program,” said Siwek, who is in Term seven of nine in the Electrical Engineering Technology (Co-op) program.

For her second paid co-op beginning in May, Siwek was hired by The Niagara Region to do SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) programming and PLC updates. SCADA is a system used to monitor and control industrial processes in real-time from equipment like pumps, valves and sensors for applications like water and wastewater treatment.

Siwek is just one of three women in her program and wants to encourage more to get involved.

“Women have fine attention to detail, especially with building panels.”

Zack Reimer

Zack Reimer and Adam Cameron

Lisa Caruso, Coordinator of the Mechanical Techniques and General Machinist Apprenticeship programs, is mentoring three students in three competitions at Skills Ontario this May: Precision Machining, CNC Machining, and Computer Aided Manufacturing.

Zack Reimer from Beamsville is in the one-year Mechanical Techniques-General Machinist program and brings experience competing at Skills Ontario in high school and middle school.

“Lisa has been my main mentor walking alongside me and providing support with expertise, contacts, and extra lab time,” said Reimer, who has spent time working through practice parts from previous years ahead of the CNC Machining competition.

“I have been doing research online, programming toolpaths for the machines to execute, and running CNC mills and lathes to become familiar with everything I might need to know,” he said.

Iscar tools

The College recently received an in-kind donation of precision cutting tools from Iscar for students to use to practice ahead of the competition. Combined with extensive preparation and research, the support has boosted Reimer’s confidence as he heads to Toronto.

“I was extremely blessed by the sponsorship of Iscar, founded by Neal (Hillesheim) from E.M. Precise, with all the tooling necessary to practice in the most realistic conditions possible with their fantastic selection of cutting tools,” said Reimer.

“We have exceptional talent in our programs, and I’m very pleased with the effort our students have put in to prepare for Skills Ontario,” said Caruso. “The generous donation from Iscar has given NC students a real advantage, allowing us to stay on the cutting edge of machining technology. With these tools, we are well prepared for this year’s competition and those to come.”

Adam Cameron

Reimer, who aspires to work in machining at a prototyping shop – eventually his own – explains how competing at Skills Ontario has enriched his experience at NC.

“Having the opportunity to compete at Skills Ontario brought a lot more meaning to my studies, as each aspect of my learning could be fully applied to the competition and thus had a lot more significance for me in particular, bringing a passion and desire to learn.”

Cameron from Caistor Centre in West Lincoln is in his third and final year of General Machinist Apprenticeship and will compete for the second time in the Precision Machining competition. Fellow student Muskan Baijnath will also compete and has been mentored by Joseph Fournier.

Cameron took home Bronze in 2025. With Caruso’s mentorship, he has bigger aspirations this year to win gold.

“I wanted to compete again this year mainly because I wanted to win first, and I wasn’t happy with my own performance from last year,” he said.

Cameron plans to pursue a career in teaching with the goal of becoming a high school manufacturing teacher. After completing his NC program, he plans to attend university to earn his teaching credentials.

Students from the Schools of Media, Trades and Technology make up the bulk of competitors, with 25 competing in 14 unique competitions.

Join us in cheering on all those representing NC at Skills Ontario!

Related stories

• A cut above the rest: Niagara College Hairstyling students sweep the podium at Skills Ontario