ACTC Hosts SkillsUSA Competition

Published on Mar 9, 2017

Ashland Community and Technical College hosted more than 130 high school students from five area career and technical centers for the annual SkillsUSA Kentucky competitions on March 3.

Secondary contest students represented Boyd County High School Career and Technical Education Center (Boyd), Carter County High School Career and Technical Center (Carter), Elliott County High School (Elliott); Greenup County High School Area Technical Center (Greenup), and Russell High School Area Technical Center (Russell) which includes students from Russell, Raceland-Worthington and Fairview High Schools. ACTC students in participated in auto and diesel postsecondary
contests.

Rusty Franklin, a carpentry instructor at Boyd County, said SkillsUSA is a good experience for students.

"It gives them the opportunity to see what things are like in the real world," Franklin said.

Skills USA Kentucky is a chapter of the national organization that serves industrial, trade and technical students in area technology centers, public high school and career and technical centers. Annual competitions focus on leadership and technical skills.

Curtis Bowman, professor and program coordinator of the welding program at ACTC, said SkillsUSA is a good way for students to meet others in their area of study and gauge the competition that awaits them when they apply for jobs as adults.

"It gives the students a chance to compete and understand that there are a lot of people doing it," Bowman said. "It's a healthy thing."

The regional competitions for the SkillsUSA Northeast Region-District 14 included contests at ACTC's Technology Drive and Roberts Drive. Contest winners are eligible to participate in state competitions later this month.