TTC Hohenwald Brings Home Gold Medal!

Kansas City, MO June 25, 2010 - Students from the Tennessee Technology Center at Hohenwald (TTCH) received a Gold Medal in Medical Math by Josh Stooksberry, Bronze Medal in Electronics Technology by Max Burden, 6th in Mechatronics with Matthew Conner & Dustin Feichtinger, 14th in Computer Maintenance Technology with Micheal Heatley Jr, and 20th in Precision Machining with Tommy Cummins at the SkillsUSA national championship competition. Brian Parton & Patrick McIntear served as delegates who worked for Sam Soto's election & helped win Tennessee a unanimous vote. Sam a student from TTC Knoxville was elected as a National SkillsUSA officer for 2010-2011. The SkillsUSA Championships, held in Kansas City, Mo., took place June 22-25, 2010, as part of the SkillsUSA 46th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students. During the week, more than 5,600 outstanding career and technical education students—all state contest winners competed hands-on in 96 different trade, technical and leadership fields.

"We are very proud of the Hohenwald team's accomplishments," said Rick Brewer, Director at TTCH. "The students that participated in the competitions and served as delegates are true champions in their dedication to excellence in their trade and their leadership skills."

During the national competition, the 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. Several advisors from TTCH including: Karen McDougal, Shirley Brown, Sherry Richardson, & Tracy Whitehead served as judges for Quiz Bowl competition.

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 high school and college-level students who are members of SkillsUSA.

Partnering at the national conference since 2002, Timberland PRO and SkillsUSA have worked together to engage more than 7,500 students, advisors and alumni in over 40,000 hours of community service. This year, volunteers will have the opportunity to work on several different service projects, all of which will have a positive impact on the environment in the Kansas City community. SkillsUSA participants will work at three project sites including projects such as bicycle trail building, bridge construction, vinyl siding and the creation of a new community garden.
Those volunteers included TTCH students Max Burden and Brian Parton as well as advisors Kim Atkinson and Tracy Whitehead.

SkillsUSA is a national partnership of students, teachers and industry, working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA chapters help students who are preparing for careers in technical, skilled and service occupations excel. SkillsUSA has more than 300,000 students and instructors as members.

For more information, visit www.SkillsUSA.org and
www.facebook.com/ttchohenwald