County kids compete at Skills USA in Helena

Students from Plains and Thompson Falls traveled to Helena last week to demonstrate their wits, technical skills and artistic talents for the SkillsUSA Montana competition.

Eleven Plains High School students and three Thompson Falls students from sophomore to senior took part in the two-day competition, which involved more than a dozen categories and some 500 students. Many will move on to compete at the national level at Atlanta, Georgia, in June, including one from Plains and one from Thompson Falls. The competition was held this year at Helena College, Capital High School, and the Helena Middle School.

"I am extremely proud of everyone who was brave enough to get out of their comfort zone and go to Helena and present themselves in front of a bunch of strangers," said Kyle Mitchell, the Plains High School shop teacher and coordinator for the Plains SkillsUSA students. Bill McGuire, the Thompson Falls industrial arts teacher and the SkillsUSA advisor, also has pride in his students' work at the event. "They worked very hard on their own in order to prepare. This is a good lesson that hard work will pay off," said McGuire.

Thompson Falls senior Colton Wormwood nabbed top honors in the Power Equipment Technology category and qualified for nationals in June. This is the second year that Wormwood participated in SkillsUSA Montana. He took second place in the same category last year, said McGuire, who has taken Thompson Falls students to the event for the last three years. He participated in the program for five years when he was a teacher at Kodiak, Alaska. Wormwood also took third place in the Job Interview competition out of 96 contestants.

The Plains team of Teirainy Bellinger, a junior, Izibelle Crabb and Piper Bergstrom, both seniors, took first place in Promotional Bulletin Board category and qualified for nationals in Georgia. Mitchell said they need to secure funding to get the three to the National Convention so they can represent Montana and compete against the other state and territorial winners in the Promotional Bulletin Board competition. Bellinger also placed second in the Pin Design competition. She took second place in Architectural Drafting last year.

"I had a great group of students this year. They all performed well. I am excited to finally have a team that qualified for the national competition," added Mitchell, who has taken students to the competition for the last three years. Kalem Ercanbrack, a freshman, received one of the three total Judges Recognition Awards.

The Plains competitors included: sophomores Mackenzie Tulloch and Caleb Lakko, juniors Peyton Wasson, William Tatum and Wyatt Butcher, and seniors Mason Elliott and Carlie Wagoner. Elliott, Butcher and Wasson have competed in past years, said Mitchell, who teaches woodworking, metalworking and computer aided design/ architectural design. He said that the goal of SkillsUSA is to help students gain employable skills and to help them get into skilled trades, such as mechanics, carpentry, welding, plumbing, cooking, drafting, electrical, and metalworking.

This year, the Plains students competed in Job Interview, Diesel Technology, Architectural Design, Welding Sculpture, Quiz Bowl, Cabinetry, Technical Math, Pin Design, and Promotional Bulletin Board. They started working on their projects in January, doing some of the work during class and some at home. Mitchell said the bulletin board and the pin designs were well done. He added that some of the projects were good, but most of them are new to the competition so there was room for improvement. Mitchell has taught shop at Plains for nine years, and before that he taught at Darby and Kalispell and at Mansfield, Washington.

"There is a wide variety of different projects and competitions that allow students to showcase their skills in a variety of areas. This year, the students that participated in promotional bulletin board, pin design, and welding sculpture had to showcase art, technical skills, and academics," said Mitchell. He added that most of the competitions are designed to be real-world skill situations.

For Thompson Falls, sophomore Allyeska Vild took fourth place in Power Equipment Technology and second in the Job Interview. As an alternate, she will go to nationals if the winner can not, said McGuire. Julian Watson-Flick, a senior, competed in the Combination Welding-Multi process competition, which included Shielded Metal Arc Welding, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding, Flux Core Arc Welding (Dual Shield), Solid Metal Arc Welding, Oxy/Acet Cutting Plasma Arc Cutting, and Blueprint reading, according to McGuire. It was the first year for Vild and Watson-Flick to take part in the competition and the fourth year that Thompson Falls High School has participated in the program.

"These competitions test a student's overall knowledge in each field and require a high level of dedication to each discipline," said McGuire, who added that SkillsUSA is a great opportunity for students to compete at the state and national levels in a variety of contests. "It also provides students the ability to gain recognition for their hard work and dedication in different disciplines in which their interests are focused. These students are passionate about their successes and are learning employability skills that will aid them in their future inclusion in Industry jobs," he said. McGuire also noted that the competition gives students the opportunity to be recognized in areas other than athletics, which are constantly being recognized for successes on the playing field. "SkillsUSA provides a stage for students whose passions lie elsewhere to be celebrated. It also provides the opportunity to get real world training within industry specific jobs."

Mitchell said the trip was funded partially by an after school grant, which ends this year, and was partially by fundraising in the form of a snack vending machine that the SkillsUSA members operate in the school. He said the Plains Booster Club also paid for the students' lunches during the three days that they were at the state conference.