TAFE SA competitors have shown their skills are among the best in the country, collecting 12 prized medals at the recent WorldSkills National Championships in Brisbane.
WorldSkills, often referred to as the ‘Skills Olympics’, promotes vocational training and skills excellence with competitions across more than 60 skills and trade areas.
TAFE SA graduate Emilie Flavel (pictured) was “over the moon” to win a spot in South Australia’s WorldSkills team and even more excited when she scored a gold medal for Graphic Design at the national event.
“It still feels surreal – it hasn’t completely sunk in yet. Winning gold is such an honour and I’m so excited to learn from new mentors and dive deeper into the technical side of graphic design. I can’t wait to see where this journey takes me,” she says.
“I still remember walking into the opening ceremony and being blown away by the number of people in attendance – it was such an incredible atmosphere.
“During the competition I was running purely on adrenaline. I usually need at least one coffee a day but I didn’t even think about it. That’s how exciting and intense it all was.”
Competitors were assigned new tasks on each of the three days of competition which they had to complete within a six-hour time limit.
For graphic designers the tasks included creating a company logo and incorporating it into the design of a car wrap and flyer; designing and creating new packaging; and producing a 20-page editorial layout.
Emilie relished the creative challenge and says competing at WorldSkills has helped her discover that “working under pressure is actually one of my strengths”.
Fellow team member, chef Amity Lobb says the three days of intensive competition were challenging but she enjoyed getting out of her comfort zone.
Amity, who completed her apprenticeship at Adelaide Oval before moving to La Louisiane as a chef de partie, has been involved in cooking competitions in teams and as a solo competitor but says none of her previous experience compares with the “massive scale” of WorldSkills.
“Everything about this competition was different to my normal competitions,” she says.
“The way they scored was so different to usual, it was more intense and it was definitely asking for more of a broad array of skills to be showcased rather than leaning heavily into just taste.”
Amity was up to the challenge, creating six different dishes over the three days using five mandatory ingredients or components that were different for each task and was awarded a silver medal.
“I have never won a podium placing at a national level before so it has really got me excited for the future and I am so grateful for my mentors at TAFE SA for helping me train for the last few months,” she says.
Fitter and turner Lachlan Leake travelled from Mount Gambier to participate in WorldSkills and says once he got used to the scale of the event, it was a great experience where he got to test his skills and watch other trade skills being showcased.
“Having worked in my trade of fitting for the past four years I would say I was quietly confident in the skills that I’ve been taught and have developed, however, it was certainly challenging to stay confident in my skills base while watching the other competitors complete their projects,” he says.
The fitting competition included a series of tasks focused on precision alignment and assembly of engineering components in a multi-layered project.
Lachlan says his employment at Dairytech SE, a business working on dairy installations and general dairy maintenance and providing an around-the-clock breakdown service, had prepared him well to deal with the competition pressure.
“I work for a business that does 24/7 breakdown service and maintenance where if something goes wrong it has to be fixed asap and that experience really helped me work quickly, precisely and efficiently under the competition pressure,” he says.
Lachlan says he stayed calm and trusted his skills while competing and was “stoked” to score a silver medal.
“It was the icing on the cake for me. Certainly, I was there to compete, learn and have a great experience and I have had a lot of support to get me to Brisbane from my boss and TAFE SA lecturer so to win a silver medal was a fantastic moment,” he says.
TAFE SA medal winners:
Gold - Emilie Flavel - Graphic Design Technology
Silver - Jemma Glatz – Painting & Decorating
Silver - Isaac Schubert – Carpentry
Silver – Amity Lobb - Cookery
Silver - Austin Riddell – Graphic Design Technology
Silver - Lachlan Leake – Fitting
Silver – Jet Mules – Welding
Silver – Thomas Scott – Motorcycle Mechanics
Bronze - Nicolas Andresakis – Barbering
Bronze - Oliver Anthonysz – Wall & Floor Tiling
Bronze – Tyson Read – Welding
Bronze – Jayden Lines – Plumbing & Heating
Certificate of Excellence recipients:
Dion Le Cornu - Motorcycle Mechanics
Georgia Saba - Signs & Graphics
John Rice – Welding
Tahlia Byford - Fashion Technology
Lachlan Sims - Refrigeration & Air Conditioning
Abubakr Tohirov - Painting & Decorating
The top performers at WorldSkills Australia will have the opportunity to be nominated for the international team, the Skillaroos, to compete with up to 85 other countries in Shanghai, China, in 2026.
Pictured below are South Australia's WorldSkills medallists (from left to right): Jemma Glatz, Thomas Scott, Jayden Lines, Austin Riddell, Jet Mules, Lachlan Leake, Oliver Anthonysz, Tyson Read, Isaac Schubert, Amity Lobb, VETiS student, VETiS student, VETiS student, Nicolas Andresakis, VETiS student, and Emilie Flavel.
