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Local students win Skills competitions BRENNA MOORE Special to The IFP Nearly 500 elementary and secondary students from schools across the Halton Region gathered to compete in a wide range of skills earlier this month. Several Halton Hills students mastered the competition and brought medals home. Seven local students will be competing at the Ontario Skills Competition in May after participating in the 17th Annual Technical Skills Competition on April 12 at Robert Bateman High School in Burlington. The event took place throughout the day and competition results were commemorated during a presentation of medals that evening. A soapbox derby, or the Distance Challenge, was one of the events in which Georgetown students dominated. This event takes place in vehicles built by teams of Grade 7-8 and Grade 9 students. Gold, silver and bronze medals were presented to three teams of Georgetown students. Georgetown District High School students won gold and silver in the Distance Challenge Obstacle event. Joey Lockwood, Jason Brunt, Thomas Boyd and Chris Hamer won gold while Dan Cresnjovic, Matthew White, Eric Mulligan and Chris Kolomeitz won silver and then bronze for Distance Challenge Best Paint. Keegan Dahl, Niraj Kansara, Stephanie Lewis and Stacey Tsotsos won two bronze medals for Silver Creek Public School in the Distance Challenge Best Presentation and Best Maneuvering at an elementary level. Georgetown District High School Students had strong standings in competitions throughout the event. Shannon Greeley won silver in the Hairstyling competition. Kevin Vanderlaan took silver in the Carpentry-Individual event while Jim Blair and Scott Nobel won silver in the Carpentry-Team event. Simon Cook and Kyle Dwyer worked as a team and took home the silver for Christ the King High School in the 3-D Character Animation event. Acton District High School students wiped the competition in various events. In the Architectural CADD event, Angela Henderson took the gold, Rhiannon Roerig won silver and Hazen Andrews won bronze. Marnie Demand won gold, Ryan Martin won silver and Nils Olav Stockinger won bronze in the Mechanical CADD event. In the Photography-Digital event, Becky Gibson took gold, Brett Kirton the silver and Matt Loturco the bronze. Winning students go on to represent the Halton District School Board at the Ontario Skills Competition in Kitchener May 2-3, and then onto the Canadian Skills Competition in Halifax May 23-26. Space bound at Silver Creek Laura Crawford and Myke Stevens had a great time at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama earlier this month. The Silver Creek Public School Grade 8 students used several simulators, built rockets, and served as mission specialists during a mock two-hour space mission. Crawford, who says the visit has convinced her she wants to be an astronaut, received a medal for being named the Astronaut with the Right Stuff. They shared tales of their adventure at the camp with Kindergarten students at their school. Photo by Ted Brown Halton Region holds Tire Amnesty Day at Waste Management Site This Saturday, April 29, marks the ninth annual Tire Amnesty Day. Halton residents can drop off up to eight passenger tires, free of charge, between 8 a.m. and 3 pm. at the Halton Waste Management Site, 5400 Regional Road 25 in the Town of Milton. The usual $5 fee is waived on Tire Amnesty Day. Residents dropping off tires are encouraged to bring a donation of food or cash for Halton area food banks. Tires that are brought to the Halton Waste Management Site on Saturday are taken away for recycling to be reused in automotive application, running tracks and blasting mats for road construction activities. Up to eight standard passenger vehicle tires, rims, as well as bicycle and wheelbarrow tires will be accepted. Commercial vehicle, truck and tractor tires can not be accepted on Tire Amnesty Day. For details, call 1-866-4HALTON or www.halton.ca.