USUE takes home gold at SkillsUSA

USU Eastern’s technical students brought home two gold, five silver and a bronze medal at one of the largest SkillsUSA competitions held in Salt Lake City, on April 1. The two gold medal winners will compete at the national SkillsUSA competition this summer.
Automotive Technology
The automotive technology department’s Robby Jewkes, who is a Carbon High School student, earned gold medal after defeating 23-high school students. Eastern’s Robbie Mitchell earned a bronze medal after defeating seven students from college programs in the state.
“Only the top three students from high schools and colleges were recognized: six total and Eastern took two of those awards,” Stan Martineau, automotive instructor, said.
In Job Skill Demonstration, students are given six minutes to teach something they have learned as a student. Eastern’s Phillip Raiche placed second, which according to Martineau, “was good considering the projector would not work and he had to change his presentation on the spot.” Brett Allen placed fourth and Joshua Begay placed fifth.
Other automotive students who placed included Jessica White who placed ninth overall, “placing both our college students in the top 10,” Martineau said. Baylan Nelson placed 13th in high school automotive.
Medical Assisting
Jessica Cocciolo won a gold medal in medical terminology. She earned an associate of science degree and is a limited practical radiology technician, certified nursing assistant and plans to become a radiology technician.
Welding
In individual welding, Eastern’s Cameron Allred, won a silver medal in collegiate welding while his teammates: Ryland Barney, Joshua Shoemaker and Dakota Lantz won a silver medal in welding fabrication.
In high school welding, Nathan Hyer placed fifth while his teammates of Trey Richardson, Jasper Thayn and Jordan Hunter earned a silver medal in welding fabrication.
Instructor Mason Winters was extremely proud of his welders and said they spent many hours dedicated to practice in preparation for the competition. The fabrication team had the task of building a park bench from a specified bill of materials using limited fabrication tools and equipment.
“All of the competitions were close between the front runners and could have been won or lost by only a few points. The competition from other colleges is getting better, which means we will have to step up our game and return the gold to our program next year.
“I like to see that the competition is getting better because it will only make everyone better as a whole, making the Utah representatives better and more prepared for the National SkillsUSA conference,” Winters said.