photo courtesy of Jerry Esparza
TJ’s SkillsUSA team of dedicated students represented TJ with pride this season at the state competition and are on their way to competing at the Nationals Conference.
TJ’s SkillsUSA program competed in the state competition and qualified for the nationals competition that will take place in Louisville, Kentucky on the week of June 20th. Through hard work and dedication, the team at has had a very successful season so far this year, winning many small competitions. Several students involved in the program headed to the state competition starting April 6th in Colorado Springs.
SkillsUSA is a program designed to improve the quality of America’s workforce, teaching students valuable qualities such as leadership, employability, and technical and professional skills training, which are needed in various industries. As many as 13,000 schools across the nation compete; in Colorado, the school district that mainly participates in SkillsUSA is Jefferson County, and TJ is the only DPS school with an organized SkillsUSA career tech student organization (CTSO). “DPS doesn’t do a lot of Skills – most of it is done in Jeffco and in Douglas County,” explained TJ Skills and CCTM teacher Jerry Esparza. “Other counties in Colorado are more involved in Skills; we just happen to be one of the few schools in DPS that does.” Spartans in TJ’s program learn how to hone and apply their skills in order to be successful in the future. The program enhances the skills taught to students as they strive to be the best they can be. Each student in the program gets the opportunity to choose what field they compete in based on what they enjoy doing and where they believe their strengths are. In prep for the competitions, students spend weeks learning new skills to improve their chances of advancing further. “Skills helps me improve my animating skills, get scholarships, and get into colleges,” explained junior Stephanie Chavez.
Students first compete to attend the state competition. This competition takes place at the school and is judged by the teacher on the skills they were able to use and how well they used them. The top three best projects are chosen, and the creators of those are then guaranteed a spot at the state competition. Students like Chavez, who won third place for 3D animation in the competition before state, can choose whether or not they wish to work with a partner on their projects, both at state and the previous competition.
This spring, several TJ students attended the state competition, including senior Sam Trout and juniors Hunter Holmes, Tyler Weiskopf, Chavez, Rogelio Flores, and Scott McMahon. There are many events that students can compete in such as Web Design, Photography, Video Production, and 3D Animation. The judges recognize the first, second, and third place winners at state. Those students are then qualified to compete at nationals. However, if the first place winners choose not to attend nationals, the judges will typically ask the second place winners to attend instead. The same goes with the second place and third place winners of each competition for each event category. In the past five years, several TJ students have made it to nationals for many different events each time.
This year, the state competition took place in Colorado Springs from April 6th-8th. The students who won from each school travelled to Colorado Springs for the three days to create projects to display at the state competition. The competition includes several different events and three winners are chosen from each field before being sent to nationals. The first day of the competition is dedicated to a ceremony for the competitors where the students receive food and get a chance to get situated. Students also received free breakfast and dinner during each day of the competition. On the second day, students are given time to plan and create their projects to be judged for the competition the following day when the winners are announced and when awards are given to each winner. The state competition is a very exciting experience for many students. “It is a really good experience and it is lots of fun,” exclaimed Chavez.
With the state competition behind them, TJ students are preparing to succeed at the nationals competition this summer and prepare for many more successful competitions in the future. Previous contests have led them this far and the students are excited to advance in the season.
