South Carolina students participate in SkillsUSA Championships

Eleven students from South Carolina recently competed in the SkillsUSA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 26-27. During this competition, more than 6,400 outstanding career and technical education students — all state contest winners — competed hands-on in 103 different trade, technical, and leadership fields. The South Carolina students that participated in the SkillsUSA Championships are:

• Travonte Gadson from Heyward Career Center, Columbia;
• Jalen Mitchell from Heyward Career Center, Columbia;
• Jaden Young from Lexington Technology Center, Lexington;
• Nathan Brandy from Lexington Technology Center, Lexington;
• Cameron Drake from Lexington Technology Center, Lexington;
• Sophie Lewis from Lexington Technology Center, Lexington;
• Taylor Mathias from Lexington Technology Center, Lexington;
• Brian Pope from Lexington Technology Center, Lexington;
• Jacob Campbell from Pickens County Career and Technology Center, Liberty;
• Isaac Cook from from Pickens County Career and Technology Center, Liberty;
• Bradie Reece from Pickens County Career and Technology Center, Liberty.

During the national competition, these students worked against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations like electronics, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting, and culinary arts. All contests are run with the help of industry, trade associations, and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. In addition, leadership contestants demonstrated their skills, which included extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedure.

The eleven South Carolina students that competed in the SkillsUSA Championship placed in the following categories:

• Jaden Young was a competitor in the Marine Service Technology competition and won Gold.
• Jacob Campbell was a competitor in the CNC Technician competition and won Gold.
• Travonte Gadson was a competitor in the Action Skills (Post-Secondary) competition and won Silver.
• Nathan Brandy, Cameron Drake, Taylor Mathias, and Brian Pope were competitors in the TeamWorks competition and won Silver.
• Isaac Cook and Bradie Reece were competitors in the Mobile Robotic Technology competition and won Silver.
• Jalen Mitchell was a competitor in the Action Skills (Secondary) competition and won Bronze.
• Sophie Lewis was a competitor in the Welding Sculpture competition and won Bronze.

Top student winners received gold, silver and bronze medallions. Many also received prizes such as tools of their trade and/or scholarships to further their careers and education. The SkillsUSA Championships is for middle school, high school, and college-level students who are members of SkillsUSA.

High scorers in the contests received Skill Point Certificates. The Skill Point Certificate was awarded in 72 occupational and leadership areas to students who achieved a high score defined by industry.

About SkillsUSA

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry to strengthen our nation’s skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. This SkillsUSA Framework empowers every student to succeed at work and in life, while helping to close the “skills gap” in which millions of positions go unfilled. Through SkillsUSA’s championships program and curricula, employers have long ensured schools are teaching relevant technical skills, and with SkillsUSA’s new credentialing process, they can now assess how ready potential employees are for the job. SkillsUSA has more than 360,000 annual members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering over 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education. For more information: www.skillsusa.org