Skilled at SWCC

In June, 10 students will participate in SkillsUSA championships, a national competition which showcases the best career and technical education students in the nation.

Each April, SWCC students have the opportunity to compete at a state level in more than 70 career and technical-related divisions. Only first place winners from the state level compete at nationals.

The competition includes college and high school students. Of the SWCC students competing at nationals, three are high school students from Clarke High School — Riley Smith, Sergio Sandoval and Noah Denney.

“Riley Smith came into the program and has just been a natural at it, and he can take information pretty good,” said Jeff Magneson, auto collision repair and refinishing instructor.

The first year SWCC had students participate at a national level was 2009. Since then, it has had qualifiers every year, but two.

The SWCC automotive finish program has had eight top ten finishers at nationals. By participating in these events students get exposed to job opportunities, awards and prizes.

The competition is comprised of five segments within a 90 time limit at nationals. The stages are a written exam, a job interview, a written estimate and the hands on competition.

The students who qualified for the national competition are: Sandoval, Denney, Smith, Lane Craven, Cory Marquardt, Greg Moore, Lance Thompson, Clayton Pattavina, Makayla Flora and Hayden Bayles.

“Watching them grow, watching them mature and develop the skills, is great” said Magneson. “One of the reasons we are so successful is because of the Midwest work ethic. These guys are just hands on and it’s real easy to teach them.”

SkillsUSA is a United States career and technical student organization serving more the 300,000 high school, college and middle school students to enroll them in training in professional them in trade, technical, and skilled service occupations.

The SkillsUSA national competition will be held June 22 - 28 in Louisville, Kentucky.