Campbell brings home gold, Meyer, Shepherd and Coan earn silver
Anthony with his gold medal
FAIR HAVEN, VT April, 2023 -- Four students from Slate Valley who attend Stafford Technical Center in Rutland, took part in the SkillsUSA Vermont Spring Conference on April 5 and 6. This competition occurs each year at nine different locations throughout the state. All Vermont Career Technical Education (CTE) students are invited to participate. Skills competition tests range from Carpentry to Nail Care. The four spotlighted Slate Valley students from Fair Haven Union High School are junior Anthony Campbell, senior Jeremy Coan, senior Maria Meyer, and junior Jaylin Shepherd. Anthony took part in the Automated Manufacturing competition, Jeremy participated in Firefighting, Maria in Action Skills, and Jaylin in Culinary Arts. Each testing category has a strict set of rules and guidelines to follow. No matter the category, each evaluation tests the student’s preparation for employment in his or her field, assesses his or her ability to work well in a team, and recognizes outstanding students for their excellence and professionalism in an individual field of study.
The competitions were judged on specific criteria in the areas of Science, Math, and Language Arts, and on the overall performance of a set task. This sounds quite intimidating, but our Slate Valley students took it all in stride.
“It was my first time competing in Skills,” Jaylin said, “I was nervous, very nervous, but it was cool. I met some wonderful people and ended up having lots of fun.”
Jaylin with her silver medalNot only did Jaylin enjoy herself, she also brought home a silver medal in the Culinary Arts division. Jaylin prepared a full course meal of homemade soup, followed by a chicken entree with vegetables and rice pilaf. The meal was made entirely from scratch. Jaylin had four hours to prepare it. She was judged throughout the process and then on the final presentation and overall taste.
Another silver medal was awarded to Maria Meyer in the Action Skills category. In Maria’s category, she was required to prepare a five to ten minute presentation on how to accomplish a certain task. Maria chose how to make homemade pizza dough. She did not actually create the pizza dough, but thoroughly explained each step on how to do so. This presentation was given to a panel of judges, all of whom are professionals in the category’s industry.
Maria with her silver medalSkillsUSA is a wonderful opportunity for students to demonstrate their areas of focus. Often the fear and anxiety that coincides with public speaking is replaced with a sense of accomplishment and confidence in their ability to conquer a hard, challenging task. Demonstrating what you have learned before a panel of industry professionals opens wonderful networking opportunities, and in this competition, the chance to go on to the National Competition. It’s the Best of the Best, or those who achieve a gold medal, who move on to compete at the next level. This year’s SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference will be held June 19 through 23 in Atlanta, Georgia. In Vermont, ten students earned this eligibility. One of those ten is Slater Anthony Campbell of Fair Haven!
Anthony competed in the Automated Manufacturing Technology test. For this test, three people work as a team. One person models the part through drawings, someone else creates the coding for cutting that will be programmed into the machine, and the third team member, who was Anthony, prepares the machine and operates it. He explained the test as, “essentially boiling down to whether I could use a CNC machine, and operate it properly. CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control. It is a precision software that allows for very precise measuring and cutting.”
Anthony continued with details about the competition, saying, “Our team received a technical drawing of the part we needed to make, with the dimensions and allowed tolerances for the part. Essentially we needed to translate that into a 3D model, which we would then program cutting paths for using 3D modeling software. Next, we plugged our program into a machine we set up and pressed ‘go’ to make the final part.” The total test time was about eight hours. All team members worked individually on their area of focus and then came together to produce the final assigned part. Judges watched the creation process, but most of the judging occurred at the end, when they reviewed the final product. The team was also responsible for handing in paperwork documenting their entire thought and work process. This was also a main component of the judging. When asked what Anthony thought pushed their team to gold, he replied that they were able to quickly, and successfully, finish the second challenge. The second challenge involved the judges handing the completed part back to the team with a request for modification. It only took Anthony’s team about 30 minutes to remodel and modify the tool pathing program, run the machine with the new specifications, produce the new design, and submit the updated paperwork. The fine teamwork and astute precision earned Anthony’s group a gold medal. This qualified them to compete against other gold medal recipients from around the country at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference this June in Atlanta.
As for life after SkillsUSA? All the students expressed great aspirations for the future. Both Jaylin and Maria hope to one day own their own bakery or cafe. Anthony will be returning to Stafford for a second year. He would like to earn an apprenticeship at General Electric or Hubbardton Forge. Congratulations to all and best wishes to the team heading to Atlanta! We’ll be cheering you on!