WorldSkills Ambassador: “Choosing a working profession does not mean that you will be a waiter or a cook all your life”

A tour of the Kazan Expo was held for Russian journalists; they were told about the future of the current participants in the championship.

(KZN.RU, August 21, Alena Miroshnichenko). On August 22, the WorldSkills Championship Kazan 2019 will open in the capital of Tatarstan. Competitions between young representatives of working professions will be held at the exhibition complex “Kazan Expo” from 23 to 26 of August. Today, Russian and foreign journalists had a tour in the future arena of the competition and also talked about what awaits the participants after the championship. A tour was conducted by Anna Prokopenya, the representative of Europe in the WorldSkills Champion Trust, the national team coach in the competency Confectionery Business, and a participant in the WorldSkills Championship 2015 in Brazil.

Anna joined the movement in 2014 when she was in college. “I didn’t choose a college because I didn’t have enough points for the exam to enter university. I really believed that being a cook is an opportunity to change people's lives, to see the result of my work. For example, a person has a bad mood, and I will cook him a delicious dessert that will change his day”, says A. Prokopenya. Then she passed regional and national selection, got into the Russian team, and in 2015 she represented the country at the WorldSkills World Championship in Sao Paulo.

“After the competition, I realized that they gave me a lot, and I want to reciprocate”, she shared, marking that you can take part in the championship only once. “WorldSkills is not only a championship. Competitions are just a flagship event that allows us to gather. In general, this movement, which includes project activities, the WorldSkills Foundation, collaborates with educational, international organizations such as the UN. The main goal is to show the world the importance of working professions, to make it clear that they are the key to a successful economy, the development of the country”, said Anna Prokopenya.

She decided not to leave the movement and applied to join the WorldSkills Champion Trust, where she has been representing Europe for four years. “We are a team of WorldSkills Ambassadors. Our task is to ensure communication between the champions after the competition so that they do not feel lost. In general, after participating in the world championship, they can train the following young professionals. Our task is to find ways of interacting with these champions and provide them with the opportunity to continue to participate in the movement”, explained the speaker.

However, in addition to the fact that Anna Prokopenya coaches the Russian national confectionery team and also acts as an ambassador for the WorldSkills movement, this year she went to get a Master’s degree in food. The young professional is convinced that this will develop her skills and competencies and help grow as a professional.

The speaker told reporters more success stories of her friends, who were also former WorldSkills participants from other countries. For example, Bart from Belgium acted in the competence of “Restaurant Service”. “He did not win the medal, but performed so well that after the competition he was approached by a representative of the restaurant “Fat Duck” in London. This is a very cool restaurant, probably the best in the world! And Bart was invited to work there. Now he is already working at the Ritz hotel in France”, says A. Prokopenya.

Another friend of hers from a small village in Ireland was noticed by representatives of one of the large companies that are specially preparing young children for participation in the WorldSkills championship. Thus, a young man went from ordinary plasterer to a real professional, won a gold medal in the world competition and was invited to work in the United Arab Emirates.

“Choosing a working profession does not mean that you will be just a waiter or a cook all your life. Each competency has space for career and professional growth. And WorldSkills is an opportunity to get acquainted with unique and amazing personalities whose lives are their work”, said the representative of the movement proudly.

1300 participants from 63 countries will take part in the WorldSkills Championship in Kazan. 1300 experts will evaluate their skills in 56 competencies. In general, they are divided into 6 blocks: construction and technologies, creativity and design, services, information and communication technologies, production and engineering technologies, transport and logistics.

The world championship will open tomorrow at the stadium “Kazan Arena”. The guests will attend a large-scale spectacular show with the stars of the Russian pop stage, bands of Kazan and, the RT. In addition, augmented reality technologies are involved in the production.