NCC SkillsUSA Chapter Competes at National Conference
SkillsUSA
Fourteen members of Nash Community College’s SkillsUSA chapter ranked nationally during competitions at the 55th Annual Leadership and Skills Conference held in Louisville, Kentucky, June 24-28, 2019.
SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry founded 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.
During the week, more than 6,600 career and technical education students – all state contest winners – competed in over 100 different hands-on trade, technical and leadership fields. Each competing NCC student placed within the top 15 in the nation in their respective category.
NCC Cosmetology students Kamryn Cox of Enfield, Brandy Davis of Wilson and Claudia Phillips of Rocky Mount won first place in the Career Pathways – Arts & Communication category. The students’ art expression and local community engagement earned the team the gold medal for cosmetology education, outreach and awareness throughout the year.
Computer Engineering Technology student Joshua Jacquez of Rocky Mount won the silver medal for Technical Computer Applications.
Students Bryan Angel of Rocky Mount, Cal Sagadraca of Nashville and Cody Smith of Nashville earned the silver medal in the Career Pathways – Business, Management & Technology, Computer Engineering Technology category. The team created an asset tagging database used by Nash Community College’s Computer Repair Shop to enhance project tracking and communication for repair shop workers and clients.
In the Mechatronics category, Electrical Systems Technology students Corey Neal Edwards of Nashville and Travis Wright of Rocky Mount placed fourth.
Caleb Garcia of Spring Hope, a Career and College Promise high school student dually enrolled in NCC’s Computer Engineering Technology program, placed eleventh in Computer Programming. He was awarded the Skill Point Proficiency Certificate for demonstrating his knowledge of Java, Visual Basic, C++ and other programming languages. Industrial Systems Technology student Jason Davenport of Battleboro ranked eleventh for Industrial Motor Control.
The Promotional Bulletin Board team, made up of NCC Cosmetology students Jessica Basinger of Rocky Mount, Justice Batts of Enfield and Gabriel Rudd of Battleboro showcased their talents by promoting SkillsUSA and career and technical education programs with an on-campus bulletin board. They placed seventh for their dynamic design concept and creative rationale.
NCC advisors Sonya Small and Phyllis Hawkins attended Skills University and received certifications for Career Essentials Workshop.
The 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 to begin their career.
Pictured above from left, front row: Brandy Davis, Kamryn Cox and Sonya Small; Back row: Ernestine Stephenson, Wanda Tyson, Joshua Jaquez and Bryan Angel. Not pictured: Claudia Phillips, Cal Sagadraca and Cody Smith.
