Fourteen-year-old multi-skill student Kenneth Sylvester from Doncaster College has been named as the overall winner of Dunlop’s Multi-Skill Champion Competition 2016.
The competition was launched by the manufacturer as a way to celebrate and recognise the best multi-skill tiling and decorating students in the country.
Eighteen students aged from 14 to 40 from FE colleges across the UK, which provide the City & Guilds Construction Skills qualification (6219), competed against each other in a series of tiling and decorating tests at the competition’s grand final, which was held at Dunlop’s Innovation and Technology Centre in Stoke-on-Trent on 16 June.
Following the rigorous assessment, Mr Sylvester was declared the winner and was presented with the winner’s trophy and £1,000 worth of tiling and decorating tools, products and equipment, as donated by sponsors Bellota and Coleman Brothers.
After being named the winner Mr Sylvester said: “I’m absolutely speechless, I don’t think this will sink in for a long time. I just can’t put it into words what it means for me, it’s the best thing I ever done.
“Doing the multi-skill course at the college and taking part in this competition has been amazing. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, and I just got the hang of it so quickly. It’s definitely something I want to do when I finish college.”
Gareth Birks, national technical support manager at Dunlop, added: “This is the first time we’ve run this competition and the interest has been amazing. We’ve been teaching in colleges for many years and thought this would be a great opportunity to recognise student’s skills, while familiarising them with our range of Dunlop tiling adhesives and decorating fillers and smoothers.
“Congratulations to Kenneth who despite his relatively young age was a deserved winner, showing great skill and application, and to all the other competitors for taking part.”
Debi Boulton, Dunlop sales and marketing manager, concluded: “The Dunlop Multi-Skill Champion competition was a great chance for construction skills students across the country to test their skills against their peers and win tools and products to give them a good start in the construction industry.
“Multi-skill students are often overlooked and under supported compared with other trades, but with the help and support of suppliers like Dunlop we can ensure they are given the tools and training to succeed in their chosen careers.”
Picture caption: Kenneth Sylvester, the winner of Dunlop’s Multi-Skill Champion Competition 2016, with Debi Boulton, sales and marketing manager at Dunlop.
