Antonio Duarte has a knack for taking things apart and putting them back together.
The Grade 10 student at Bishop O’Byrne High School in Calgary recently won a gold medal in the automobile technology competition at the Skills Canada National Competition.
“I just enjoy building and taking apart things — it’s just like an escape for me,” Duarte said.
Among other things, he was required to dismantle shocks, brakes and steering components and put them back together as well as do an electrical diagnosis.
“It was kind of stressful,” the 15-year-old football player said. “I thought there were a couple of things I was going to do wrong — like, I still can’t stand transmissions.”
His mechanics teacher said Duarte is a great student with a gift for mechanical reasoning.
“It was just a matter of fine-tuning him to be ready for the competition,” said Chis Yeo, a mechanics teacher at Bishop O’Byrne High School.
Duarte also scored top spot in a provincial competition before he headed off to compete nationally.
