ELLISVILLE – It’s been three years since SkillsUSA students at Jones College competed in the State Competition, yet they continued their “winning ways” this year, coming home with plenty of gold. JC SkillsUSA advisor, Ryan Hearn said he was thrilled with how all the students performed.
“We had the most competitors at the state contest with 19 students and we brought home 17 medals. It was a very strong showing for the college and we anticipate it to continue to grow every year,” Hearn said proudly.
The last time a Jones College team competed and won the engineering technology design category was in 2019. That team of students, C.J. Hoodless of Ellisville, Preston Hammonds of Leakesville and Lakelin Smith of Lucedale also earned Gold Medals at the National Competition. Covid-19 concerns halted and modified competition over the past couple of years. Regardless, the Jones College engineering design technology design team took the top trophy again and continued the winning tradition. The three-person team of Jose` Mendez of Laurel, Ruben Diaz of Lucedale and Trevor Courtney of Bassfield created an attachment for a weed eater, which won over the judges because of its practicality.
“Our attachment allows you to weed-eat and edge using just the weed eater. Turning the weed eater horizontally with our attachment, allows you to roll it on the ground so you don’t have to hold it up while trying to also edge with the weed-eater,” explained Courtney who also serves as the President of the Jones College SkillsUSA chapter. “The three of us brainstormed about possible ideas and since we all do yard work, we wanted to design something that would make yard work more cost effective and efficient.”
Jones College students have won this category since its introduction which combines civil engineering, drafting, design and entrepreneurial skills. Additionally, each team was judged by company professionals considering the originality of their product, presentation and explanation of how and why the product was created, the manufacturing process and the financial and future analysis of the 3-D printed invention. Each piece was drawn on a 3D software program and then printed on 3D printers separately, which added some difficulty finishing their creation according to Courtney.
“Our printers are not large enough to print the whole set out at one time, so we had to print the pieces and then figure out how to mold them together,” said Courtney. “We knew we had a lot of guidance and materials at JC, so we felt like we had a good shot of winning. Not many other community colleges are capable of even doing the things we did so we feel confident going to Nationals.”
By doing every aspect of the process to create and produce an original product, Hearn explained is the best possible way to prepare students for the “real world” in the engineering field. SkillsUSA’s competitions give students opportunities to excel and prepare them for the workforce.
“It would be very difficult to win without both of these programs (civil engineering technology and CAD engineering), especially at the SkillsUSA competition because it takes both skills to make it work,” said Hearn.
Other first place winners include Blake Stokes of Glade in Electrical Construction Wiring; Elijah Sellers of Hattiesburg in Extemporaneous Speaking; Jareen Green of Leakesville in Technical Drafting and the Quiz Bowl Team of Ethan Ainsworth of Laurel, Aldo Velasco of Laurel, Oscar Gomez of Laurel, James Grayson of Laurel, Juan Carlos of Hernandez of Laurel and Lee Mixon of Stonewall.
“Some questions were about the SkillsUSA organization but there were a lot more questions about current events and trivia,” explained Mixon. “The winning team had to earn 70 points and if you’re not sure about the answer, and answer incorrectly, the mistakes cost the team. Also, this was a timed competition but at Nationals we’ll compete directly against other teams.”
Earning second place silver medals at the SkillsUSA State Competition were Jason Eason of Laurel in Job Interview; Stephen Holifield of Laurel in HVAC; Thomas Broadhead of Sandersville in Job Skill Demo Open; Jakob Anderson of Purvis in Architectural Drafting and Mason Broadus of Collins in Related Technical Math.
Students placing first place at the State Competition are invited to compete at the National Competition in Atlanta, Georgia on June 19 to 23.