Local Students Honored at Annual Skills USA Workforce Development Event
Louisville, Ky. — Career and technical students in Georgia won some of the nation’s highest awards at the 2017 Skills USA Championships, held in Louisville, Ky., on June 21-22, 2017.
More than 6,000 students competed at the national showcase of career and technical education. The Skills USA Champion- ships is the largest skill competition in the world and covers 1.4 million square feet, equivalent to 20 football fields or 25 acres.
Students were invited to the event to demonstrate their technical skills, workplace skills and personal skills in 100 hands- on occupational and leadership competitions including robotics, automotive technology, drafting, criminal justice, aviation maintenance and public speaking. Industry leaders from 600 businesses, corporations, trade associations and unions planned and evaluated the contestants against their stan- dards for entry- level workers. Industry support of the Skills USA Championships is valued at over $36 million in donated time, equipment, cash and material.
More than 1,700 industry judges and technical committee members participated this year.
Skill Point Certificates were awarded in 72 occupational and leadership areas to students who met a predetermined threshold score in their competition, as defined by industry. The Skill Point Certificate is a component of Skills USA’s as-sessment program for career and technical education.
The following students are Skill Point Certificate recipients from the Standard Journal reading area. :
Chase Manning, from Cedartown and a student a t Cedartown High School, was awarded a Skill Point Certificate in Welding
Logan Fincher, from Cedartown and a student a t Cedartown High School was awarded a Skill Point Certificate in Car-pentry.
Ryan Fincher, from Cedartown and a student at Georgia Northwestern Tech College was awarded the college gold medal in Welding.
Zac Bacon, from Buchanan and a student at Haralson County High Schoo, was awarded a Skill Point Certificate in Collision Repair Technology.
Manning and Logan Fincher also placced 9th in national competition, while Ryan Fincher took first place on the col-lege level.
It’s the latest in wins for the Polk County area in national competition. Previously, Ryan Fincher has gone on to compete on the high school and college level for welding.