Skills U.S.A. members are sharpening their skills and getting ready for the state competition on April 18th-20th.
Skills USA competitor Talan Lousignont hard at work. Photo by Ed Gloor
On April 18, 2012 thirteen SkillsUSA members will be packing their bags and heading off to the big competition. This three-day trip will include one day for open sessions where there is a keynote speaker, competition day, and one day for an award ceremony.
SkillsUSA is a place where high school and college students can improve their leadership and work skills that involve computers, getting the students prepared for real world jobs and the responsibilities that will come with them. The SkillsUSA group at Thomas Jefferson meets every Thursday in Room 102. “I think this is a great club for students to be in because they can be challenged and have healthy competitions with each other. This club gives students a chance to show off skills that they learn and also improve on the skills over time,” stated SkillsUSA facilitator, Jerry Esparza.
The club, made up roughly of forty students, works on projects that fall into the categories of 3D and Web Design. Those forty students are then reduced down to teams in the category of their choice. “Right now I have twenty kids doing 3D so there are ten teams. Then for web there are eighteen students which makes nine teams,” commented Esparza. The projects that are made in the club are practice for the students before they enter a competition where they will be judged.
The Skills U.S.A members have their own In-House competition just around the corner. “February 29 and March 14 will be the days we decided what teams and students go to state,” said Esparza. In this particular competition, students must make a project in their category and then the Center for Communication Technology, or CCT teachers judge them. The kids with the best projects are then sent to the state competition to represent TJ. “I’m not nervous for the competition because I have had a lot of experience. There are about three teams that are made up of seniors so I think they will do really good. Usually it is the older kids that make it to state because of experience but we try to give the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors a chance,” said Skills U.S.A President, Cody Anderson.
This year will be the first year that a photography category will be included. “So far seven of my students have shown interest in competing in this area and I will have to pick three of them to go to state. I’m not too sure what the criteria is for the competition for this new category, so I’m still inquiring about that. Hopefully sometime this week I will be able to get some answers and find out more about the category,” stated Esparza.
The state competition will be held at Red Rocks Community College. “When we get there, they assign us a topic that we have to work on. For the web category, they are told a certain website to create. The photo kids will have to do their own thing, we aren’t sure what yet, and the 3D category has a specific topic. Once we are told what to make, we have eight or eight and a half hours to make it,” said Anderson.
The students entering this year for the 3D category are Broderick Bills, Van Diep, Talan Lousignont, Alysse Grywusiewicv, Spencer Jefferson, and Samantha Ockey. The four students hoping to bring home a win in the web design are Alexis Holcomb, Mckenzie Brown, Daniel Scherer, and Young Kim. As for the newest category, photography, there will be three Spartans representing TJ; those students are Henna Danek, Ryan Woods, and Jacob Johnson.
Besides gearing up for the competition, the group is also working on some fundraising. “We are trying to get some community service fundraisers organized but nothing is set in stone yet. We are thinking of collecting books for an abused children organization,” Esparza said. The group is open to suggestions for some fundraising ideas as well.
So far, TJ has done pretty well in the state competitions, taking first and second place in web last year and third in 3D two years ago. With a record like that, it should be a piece of cake for the TJ competitors. So wish them luck and watch out for upcoming fundraisers for the organization!
