PHS students showcase new skills program

Students of Plains High School held a contest in the gymnasium last week to showcase the new after-school program and to recruit additional membership.

The school received a $1,000 grant in January, compliments of Channellock Tools of Meadville, Pa., to have an assembly and put on a Career and Technical Education open house to celebrate SkillsUSA Week, said shop teacher Kyle Mitchell, chief coordinator of the new program. He said Plains was the only Montana school to receive the grant.

There are seven boys and three girls from freshmen to seniors in the SkillsUSA Plains Chapter this year, but Mitchell believes they'll double the number next year. SkillsUSA is an after-school program offered to any high school student taking a career or technical class, said Mitchell, who added that this is the first year for Plains to participate in SkillsUSA.

The Career and Technical Education activities include metal and woodworking, business, family consumer science, and computer aided design. In April, the SkillsUSA students will travel to Havre for a Montana Leadership Conference to compete in events such as welding, metal sculpture, job interviews, architectural design and woodworking.

"SkillsUSA is a student organization that prepares them for the workforce. It focuses on career and technical programs, such as woodworking, metalworking, medical fields, cosmetology, culinary arts, as well as general job skills," said Plains High School senior Cameron Hill, president of the Plains chapter.

The idea for last Monday's assembly was to show there are opportunities for students to participate in after school activities other than sports, said Mitchell, who's been the Plains High School shop teacher for six years. "SkillsUSA offers competitions that involve knowledge, teamwork, problems solving skills, technical skills, as well as professional skills," said Mitchell. "The events on Monday allowed our students an opportunity to gain the confidence to get out in front of their schools and plan and organize an event on their own," he added.

"I think it is valuable because it works to teach students skills that will be valuable after high school. It helps them gain skills and self confidence," said Mitchell. "I feel that schools provide lots of opportunities for students to participate in athletics, however, in small communities there are limited amounts of clubs or other after school organizations that students can do that they get involved and stay active and learn how to interact with their peers without being on their phones, social media or video games."

At last week's assembly, the SkillsUSA Plains Chapter students organized five different challenges that involved ingenuity and teamwork. The teams were divided between the four class levels with the seniors winning the first game, called "Birdbox Challenge." Each team in the first test had three members. One was blindfolded on the floor. Another was blindfolded holding a donut on a string. The third member served as a guide, directing the donut to the mouth of the person on the floor. The first one to eat the donut won. Second place went to the junior class, followed by the sophomores. Round two was called the "Human Knot" and involved 10 students, all holding hands. The group had five minutes to untangle the knot of arms without releasing their hands. The freshman class was the only group to fulfill the task and get the top three points.

Game three, the "Waterfall," was comprised of a team of two boys and two girls. Using plastic tubes cut in half, the goal was to roll a small ball from one end of the gym to the other using only the tubes. The seniors were again the victors, followed by the juniors and sophomores. In "Monkey Feet," the 10 teammates had to sit on the floor and utilizing only their feet, pass a grapefruit down the line. Seniors won again, followed by the freshmen in second and sophomores in third.

The final game, "Balloon Tower," called for four students to construct a tower of balloons using tape to hold them together. The seniors had the tallest tower, followed by the juniors and freshmen. Seniors won the day with 12 points. Each senior received a candy bar as a prize.

"This is a program we've looked at for a long time and I like that we have it up and running," said Superintendent Thom Chisholm. "I like the diversity for the students, that it involves both male and female in career technology education," he said.

At the open house held last Monday evening, the school showcased the Career and Technical Education programs offered at the school. About 40 students and families showed up for the two-hour event, which was hosted by the SkillsUSA students. Afterward, the families had the chance to tour the school shop, where students demonstrated how to weld and showed visitors some of their woodworking and architecture projects, said Mitchell, who hopes to have a fundraiser to continue the program next year.

The shop teacher said there's a big learning curve to become a successful SkillsUSA chapter. "One of the things I keep reminding them is that this is our opportunity to develop new traditions and a new culture in this school," said Mitchell, a teacher for 14 years. He is pleased to see that more girls are taking shop classes, which are normally male students. He said around 30 percent of his overall shop students are females and about 50 percent of the wood shop students are female. 

Mitchell said that events like the leadership conference in Havre gives students a chance to experience things they might not have done previously, such as visiting a college campus, traveling across part of the state. He said some students have never been past Missoula or left the state.

"I was very proud of the students in my SkillsUSA Chapter because they all came together and worked hard to put on great events."