Nolan Ilic (Image Credit: CFJC News)

By Sydney Chisholm

TRU Trades

17-year old welder from Thompson Rivers University going to national championship

Apr 27, 2023 | 4:18 PM

KAMLOOPS – Sparks are flying over at the TRU Trades building — and it’s not just because of welding equipment.

Nolan Ilic fell in love with the trade at the age of seven, and now ten years later, he has won gold at the provincial skills competition and will soon be headed to Winnipeg to represent B.C. on a national level.

From the first day he walked into the classroom, Nolan’s teachers knew he had something special

“I could see some really good potential in Nolan right away. We had a regional competition shortly after he started,” Larry Franzen, chief welding instructor at TRU. “He was competing against people who had finished the program and still ended up winning the competition.”

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From a young age, Nolan was right by his dad’s side learning the tools of the trade.

“Honestly, I just love working with my hands. My dad, from before I started welding, he would bring home lawnmowers and stuff and we would just take it apart and put it back together, just for the fun of it,” Ilic said. “I just loved making stuff and once I started welding, it kinda introduced that kinda creative aspect into it.”

Before TRU, he never really studied a trade in school, but at home, his dad helped him excel before he finished high school. And after graduating a semester early, he started at TRU in January.

“It’s not common for a student who just comes in, at the beginning of the course and competes against people who have finished the course – to win, so it’s an anomaly for sure,” Franzen told CFJC News.

After winning regionals, he went on to compete and win at the provincial competition in Abbotsford a few weeks ago.

Next month, Nolan and another TRU student will be welding at the national skills competition in Winnipeg.