WorldSkills Silver Medal: Jorda Thomas’s Journey
A WorldSkills silver medal is not just a feel-good headline. It is a proof point that graphic communications is a disciplined, applied field where creativity has to perform under pressure. In September 2026, Jorda Thomas, a Canadian Printing Industries Scholarship recipient and Saskatchewan Polytechnic Graphic Communications alumna, won silver for Team Canada in Graphic Design Technology at WorldSkills Shanghai.
Her path matters because it is easy to misunderstand graphic design as simply “making things look nice.” Jorda’s preparation and competition experience show the broader reality: interpreting a brief, solving a communication problem, making technical choices quickly, and delivering work that holds up to scrutiny.
From a high school moment to a world stage
Jorda’s interest in the field started in high school after she met a freelance designer. That early exposure grew into formal training through Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Graphic Communications program and then into the kind of sustained practice that competitions demand. Saskatchewan Polytechnic has reported that she is the fifth participant from its program to compete at WorldSkills in this category, placing her achievement within a longer pattern of commitment and coaching around the program.
For prospective students and parents, that arc is the point. A career direction can begin with one conversation, then sharpen through hands-on education, mentorship, and real deadlines.
What WorldSkills actually tests
The Graphic Design Technology category is not a single style exercise. It forces designers to apply fundamentals across different applications, under time pressure. In preparation, Jorda worked through practice assignments such as packaging for a saw and an annual report at a Regina practice competition. Those examples underline what the work can include: physical packaging and structured information design, not just social posts or a logo on a screen.
Jorda has described reviewing packaging, branding, typography, and colour palettes daily, and pushing herself to make quicker decisions in competition conditions. That combination of craft and speed is a big part of what separates “I like art” from “I can deliver professional design.”
Mentorship, critique, and revision are part of the job
Another clear lesson in Jorda’s story is that growth is not solitary. Saskatchewan Polytechnic identifies instructor and WorldSkills expert Cody Peterson and instructor and former WorldSkills Team Canada participant Kyla Henry as mentors. Jorda also received feedback from international judges at the Regina practice meet, and then gained another perspective during practice in Shenzhen.
That matters for students choosing a program. The ability to take critique, revise, and adapt is not a side skill in graphic communications. It is the work.
Design shows up everywhere people touch print
Jorda has pointed to branding, packaging, editorial design, and signage as things people interact with every day. Some graphic design is digital, but graphic communications is also deeply connected to tangible outcomes in the print and packaging industry. Saskatchewan Polytechnic lists related paths such as packaging design, digital illustration, signage, digital press operation, and screen printing, showing the range of directions a foundation in graphic communications can support.
Jorda Thomas’s WorldSkills silver medal deserves recognition in its own right. Her journey also shows what graphic communications education can lead to when creative interest is matched with applied training, practice, and the humility to learn from feedback.
Image by Skills / Compétences Canada
“The mission of Canadian Print Scholarships is to attract the brightest and best students available to the graphic communications industry by providing financial assistance to enroll and continue in a post-secondary management or technical program at an approved institution.”
