The Skills USA team at McDonald County High School recently attended a district competition, where they took two first-place awards and a second-place and qualified for the state competition.
Advisor Mark Kaufman said the district competition was at Scott Regional Technical center in Monett. Skills USA competed in Teamworks, plumbing, electric and individual carpentry. Teamworks took first place, and plumbing took first place. Electric took second place.
"They all qualified for state in April at State Technical College in Linn, Mo.," Kaufman said.
"They did good," he added. "We had two sophomores competing in individual carpentry. They didn't place but did well with a fifth and 11th place."
He said in the different competitions there were a lot more competitors this year.
"I'm proud of them. They represented our school well," he said of his students.
The Teamworks team works together to build a structure with carpentry walls and rafters, plumbing, electricity and masonry. They all work together on the carpentry and then one is the main carpenter, one works on plumbing, one on electricity and one on masonry. All the members of the team are seniors this year.
Blaine Bishop was the plumber. He said he ran a hot and cold line, plumbed a sink and laid out the walls for the other team members to build.
"I know we had some mistakes, but I felt we did pretty decent," he said. "We had a few things I'd like to change. I felt we did pretty fair on our build."
Tryston Leach was the electrician. He ran a three-way light switch circuit, a regular outlet and a GFC outlet, he said. Before doing the electricity, he helped Bishop lay the walls out.
"I know there were a few mistakes, but I feel like we made some corrections, and in the next few weeks before state, I feel like we can work the kinks out," he said.
Raymond Lovatt was the main carpenter. He said he did all the cuts and built the rafters.
"I felt like we did pretty good besides I messed the rafters up a little bit," he said.
Carlos Marcos was the mason. He helped set up the walls and then laid the brick.
"I felt like we did a good job," he said.
The state competition is April 2-4. Kaufman has also taken Teamworks to nationals three times in the seven years he has been teaching at McDonald County High School.
General News on 02/20/2020