Twelve Delaware Area Career Center students punched their tickets to the SkillsUSA Ohio State Championships earlier this month, earning top-four finishes in their respective career-technical categories at the regional level.
Students from four DACC labs – Automotive Collision Technology, Construction Technology, Criminal Justice, and Engineering Technician – placed at the SkillsUSA Ohio Central Regional Championships, which were held March 13 at C-TEC in Licking County (certain contests were held at additional locations around Central Ohio, including the Automotive Collision Repair & Finishing Technology competition, held March 6 at DACC).
Overall, more than 35 DACC students competed at the regional level this year, applying the skills they’re learning in their career-technical labs in a competitive setting.
Among the state qualifiers:
Nicholas Daw (Automotive Collision Technology, Big Walnut) placed first in the Automotive Refinishing Technology competition.
The team of Dylan Koverman (Construction Technology, Worthington Kilbourne), Isabella Blevins (Construction Technology, Olentangy Orange), Jack Baker (Construction Technology, Delaware Hayes) and Brayden Inman (Construction Technology, Big Walnut) placed first in the TeamWorks competition.
Joseph Langhirt (Engineering Technician, Buckeye Valley) placed second in the CNC 3-Axis Milling Programmer competition.
The team of Justin Silva (Construction Technology, Worthington Kilbourne), Caleb Layne (Construction Technology, Olentangy Orange), Caydin Aragon (Construction Technology, Delaware Hayes) and Manuel De La Cruz (Construction Technology, Westerville South) placed third in the TeamWorks competition.
Colton Taylor (Automotive Collision Technology, Delaware Hayes) placed third in the Automotive Refinishing Technology competition.
Nelly Rivas (Criminal Justice, Westerville South) placed fourth in the First Aid/CPR competition.
Jacob Stern (Automotive Collision Technology, Olentangy Liberty) placed fifth in the Collision Repair Technology competition, earning the right to compete at state if any of the top-four finishers cannot do so.
These students will be joined by DACC’s “straight-to-state” qualifiers, whose categories did not require a regional competition and will advance to state automatically.
In addition, two DACC students will be running for SkillsUSA Ohio leadership positions at this year’s state event. Aubrey Woodrum (Early Childhood Education, Delaware Hayes) and Bristol Southwick (Welding & Sheet Metal Fabrication, Buckeye Valley) are both running for state officer positions. If either are elected, they will serve as state officers next school year.
The SkillsUSA Ohio State Championships will be held May 5-6 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. First-place finishers at state will earn the right to compete at the SkillsUSA National Championships, which will be held the first week of June in Atlanta, GA.