Canadian School Students Win 2009 Phoenix Challenge

Published: April 30, 2009

CHARLOTTE, NC | Two Canadian High School students were declared the winners of the twelfth Annual Intl. Phoenix Challenge Flexo Skills Competition, which took place at the Harper National Flexographic Ctr. at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC April 1—3, 2009.

Two and half days of intense competition culminated in a first-place award and $1,000 scholarships each for Hannah Plavnick & Stephanie Hammond, the team from Gordon Graydon Memorial Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The pair won the first-place award by earning this year’s highest combined scores in the contest’s five exams: written knowledge, math, pre-press proficiency, press operation and platemaking.

In addition to the two $1,000 Phoenix Challenge Foundation Scholarships, the winning team took home the 2009 Harper (www.harperimage.com) Flexo High School of the Year trophy cup for display at its school. Students from the Fairfield Career & Technology Center in Winnsboro, SC, won second-place honors, while several other students from Graydon Secondary School won third place, competing against twenty teams in the 2009 International Phoenix Challenge Competition.

Founded in 1998, the Phoenix Challenge Foundation is an all-volunteer not-for-profit organization of industry professionals dedicated to the recruitment and development of the future workforce for flexography. Each year, flexo high school students and teachers from throughout the US and Canada are invited to the Phoenix Challenge, a two-day skill-based competition with hands-on and written testing in operating a flexo press, prepress, platemaking, and overall flexo knowledge. Winners are eligible for scholarships funded by the Phoenix Challenge Foundation. To date, $24,000 in scholarships has been awarded to encourage students to pursue further education and a career in flexography. For additional information and to make donations, visit www.phoenixchallenge.org.