Marine students made waves at the Nautical Institute.

Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC)’s A’paqt (Ah-Bucked) Project Lead said four teams of students competed in a wave tank rescue exercise, splicing knots, steering the navigation simulator and engineering tasks.

Theresa Laaroussi shared with our newsroom how the 12th annual Marine Skills Competition united students from different marine programs on Wednesday, March 11.

“It’s really exciting to see the marine students compete because there’s a lot of good energy. There’s a lot of excitement in the air and everybody wants to win. They want to show off,” she shared.

She said this year’s industry sponsors donated a record over $11,000 and each of the seven members of the winning team brought home around $650.

“It’s really important to have the marine skills competition on campus because it unites our cadets so that they feel like a team. They learn how life would be like on board [a ship],” said Laaroussi.

She promoted that Transport Canada offers funding for women and Indigenous peoples to diversify the marine force by taking their marine programs.

On Thursday, March 12, they’re hosting a marine career fair at the Strait Area Campus with company presentations and booths to talk about employment opportunities on their vessels.