Hong Kong youngsters shone in the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition which was held between September and November by bringing home a record-breaking total of one gold medal and 12 medallions for excellence. Hong Kong Design Institute graduate Kaitlyn Leung was one of a bunch of Hong Kong contestants who took top honours in the competition. She won the gold medal in the visual merchandising category which was also the third gold medal for Team Hong Kong in its history of competing at the WorldSkills Competition. 

World champion

In the competition in Sweden, contestants were tasked with creating a window display to promote four pairs of sports shoes for children under the theme of autumn collection. Miss Leung’s display combined skilful storytelling with striking visuals, featuring a child climbing and running with his dog in a park.

Miss Leung was surprised to be awarded the gold medal as the competition was quite challenging. She thought her time management skills and quick response to the challenge made her stand out.

“In this competition, I think the most difficult part is time management because we only had 21 hours to do all the design works, including doing the structure and all the props making. So time management is the most difficult part for this competition,” she explained.

Visual Merchandising Chief Expert Leo Chan said that Miss Leung deserved the gold medal as she fully demonstrated the design, display and drawing skills she has acquired from her training.

“Storytelling is a very interesting element in design and Kaitlyn adopted this concept very well.

“You can see from the design that there is a dog, and it is jumping up and down on the props.

“It is very easy and very effective to invite the visitors to enjoy the story of the design. She did very well in it.”

Well-rounded training

Team Hong Kong achieved its best ever performance in the competition this year. It was also the first time the team bagged a medallion in the restaurant service category.

Hotel & Tourism Institute graduate Nigel Lee represented Hong Kong in this category. To succeed, competitors had to be knowledgeable and skillful in presenting and serving beverages, such as making coffee, cocktail shaking as well as wine service.

They were also tested on providing dining services to guests in hotels and restaurants.

“One of the most unforgettable moments for me was on day one of the competition. There was a task which centred on fruit carving. Competitors had to peel, cut and plate two fruit plates and two fruit bowls.

“The choice of fruit they offered was really different from what I had encountered before. So I had to cut up fruits that I had never practised on before like cantaloupes, star fruit and also apples. I used the knowledge and experience I had from past practice to complete the task and later found out that I got a near perfect score,” he added.

Outstanding performance

His trainer and Restaurant Service Expert Nelson Cheung said that Mr Lee worked very hard to prepare and hoped to perform well in the competition in Switzerland. To achieve their common goal of winning a medal for Hong Kong, Mr Lee got intensive practice under his expert guidance in the past two years. And now, their efforts paid off.

Mr Cheung added that the outstanding performance of the team demonstrated how one could shine in the international arena with professional skills.