SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference
SHOWING HIS SKILLS Steve Austin, Minnesota state champion, competes at the SkillsUSA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 28. Contestants made their way through 10 events, where judges knew them only by their competition number, t ■ See SKILLS | Page 16 hus avoiding any biases.
LOUISVILLE —SkillsUSA came to the Derby City on June 25-29 for its 54th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference, the world’s largest showcase of skilled trades. Quality career and technical education and contests were the centerpiece of the conference. More than 18,000 students, teachers, education leaders, and representatives from 600 national corporations, trade associations, businesses, and labor unions participated. The highlight, as always, was the annual SkillsUSA Championships with 102 hands-on skills and leadership competitions. Championships were open to the public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 27, and Thursday, June 28, and were held at the Kentucky Exposition Center, the Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport, and the Kentucky Regional Fire Training Academy.
Ian McCleese, Collins Career Center, Chesapeake, Ohio, won gold; Jonathan lunk, Waterloo High School, Waterloo, Illinois, won silver; and Bryant Crow, Ozarks Technical Community College Career Center, Springfield, Missouri, won bronze for the secondary (high school) HVACR categories. Casey Dowell, Tennessee College of Applied Tech-McKenzie, McKenzie, Tennessee, won gold; Owen Dougherty, Penn College of Tech, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, won silver; and Blaine Feeler, State Technical College of Missouri, Linn, Missouri, won bronze in the post-secondary HVACR categories.
The HVAC competition showcased nine test events in which 31 secondary and 22 post-secondary contestants vied for top honors. Contestants represented first-place winners from previous state competitions. For example, Minnesota post-secondary was represented by Steve Austin, a 22-year-old who had just graduated his two-year program at Hennepin Technical College – Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Austin bested approximately 16 students from four Minnesota schools with a unique approach to HVAC diagnostics — though his hearing is excellent, Austin has no voice and, therefore, must communicate to co-workers and customers via a voice app on his phone. (Visit https://bit.ly/2A40HDQ for the full story on Steve Austin.)
Because of the extra communication challenge, Austin actually had two judges with him at all times. The common procedure is for one judge to be paired with one contestant at all times to answer any questions, judge performance on all nine test events, and ensure strict adherence to testing protocol as established by the technical committee.
Warren Lupson is a near 20-year veteran of SkillsUSA, tracing its beginnings to the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America (VICA) program. He has served as a technical committee advisor, judge, and liaison between SkillsUSA and the HVACR industry through his association with both ACCA and Air-Conditiong, Heating and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).
“The industry needs to step up even more for SkillsUSA,” said Lupson. “The amount of commitment required is tremendous, but the rewards are great, and the consequences if we don’t train these young people are dire for our industry.”
The Harris division of Lincoln Electric provided all supplies for the brazing contest, and manufacturing representatives from Lennox, Carrier Corp., Haier, and Emerson Climate served as judges at the various stations and were also helping with administrative duties.
Michele Niekirk is a Lennox administrative assistant for technical support in Richardson, Texas.
For the past five years, she has managed much of the contestant area and has served on the HVAC technical committee for SkillsUSA.
“It takes the efforts of many people to put this together every year and countless hours of preparation,” said Niekirk. “It’s all worthwhile, as these are the people who will lead our industry someday.”
Niekirk also confirmed that the first-, second-, and third-place winners in both categories won industry tools and supplies worth thousands of dollars (approximately a $5,000 value for the first place prize). All items were donated by a variety of HVAC manufacturing companies.