College brings home six medals from national SkillsUSA competition

Seventeen students from Ozarks Technical Community College recently traveled to Kansas City to compete in the 45th annual National Leadership and SkillsUSA Conference, a national competition for high school and college students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.  More than 5,000 students, including 209 from Missouri, competed in 91 different fields at this year’s event.

The OTC students participated in a variety of competitions, including 3-D Visualization and Animation, Broadcast News Production, Cabinetmaking, Culinary Arts, Graphic Communications, HVAC and Refrigeration, and Screen Printing Technology.  The College brought back six medals, and all the students did well in their competitions.  The results were as follows:
    
Post-Secondary Students:
1st place, Screen Printing Technology — Katie Boyts, Springfield
1st place, Food and Beverage Service — Emily Spiller, Springfield
2nd place, Preschool Teaching Assistant — Faith Swickard, Strafford
2nd place, Audio/Radio Production — Jeff Black, Clever, and Austin Kittleman, Springfield
3rd place, Culinary Arts — Tyler Gant, Springfield
7th place, HVAC and Refrigeration — Kent Coates, Nixa
7th place, Television Production — Steve Hutchison, Ozark, and Austin McConnell, Nixa
8th place, 3-D Visualization and Animation — Kevin Mangold, Nixa, and Karey Stewart, Springfield
16th place, Cabinetmaking — Kayla Robertson, Fair Grove

Secondary Students:
10th place, Graphic Communications — Blake Carter, Nixa High School
10th place, Broadcast News Production — Josh Adams, Logan-Rogersville High School, Jordan Camacho, Nixa High School, Makenzie Hickam, Logan Rogersville High School, and Trent Johnson, Logan-Rogersville High School

The Awards Ceremony was held on Friday evening at Kemper Arena where OTC Career Center student, Josh Adams sang the National Anthem to start the ceremony.  Adams, who will be a senior at Logan-Rogersville High School in the fall, is currently enrolled in the Electronic Media Production program at the College.