Six Greenville Technical College students competed and placed in postsecondary competitions at the SkillsUSA National Championships June 22-23 in Louisville, Ky. This competitive event showcases the best career and technical education students in the nation.
Eden Mays, a 2016 honor graduate in the auto body repair associate of applied science degree program, placed third in the nation in the Automotive Refinishing Technology competition.
The following GTC students also finished with national rankings: Zane Butler, 12th place, Collision Repair Technology; Aaron Kyle Davis, 15th place, CNC Technician; Keith Fullen, 16th place, Diesel Equipment Technology; James Gleason, 12th place, CNC Milling Specialist; and, James Johnstone, eighth place, CNC Turning Specialist.
These rigorous competitions require students to demonstrate their ability to perform jobs and skills based on national industry standards while successfully completing a series of workstation tasks and projects, an interview and written examination. Performance, in many competitions, is also judged for finished product, speed, and proper safety practices.
In order to qualify for nationals, these students also won the state contests for their respective competition fields earlier in the year.
“I am extremely proud of these students,” said Shane Isbell, head of the Transportation Department, who adds GTC students have done well at the national level for many years.
“We’ve had a student in the top 15 nationally since 2010,” said Isbell. “We also placed third in 2008 in the automotive collision repair contest.”
For more information about the automotive and manufacturing programs at Greenville Technical College, visit www.gvltec.edu/auto/ and www.gvltec.edu/manufacturing/. To learn more about the college’s SkillsUSA chapter and student organization, contact Shane Isbell at (864) 250-8435.
The SkillsUSA Championship annually brings together more than 6,000 outstanding career and technical education students to compete hands-on in 100 different trade, technical and leadership fields. Contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. To learn more, visit www.skillsusa.org.
Image: Pictured from left are Zane Butler and Eden Mays. Not pictured is Keith Fullen.