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Tylor Underwood, a student at Stafford High School, competes in the technical illustration category of the SkillsUSA competition.
Photos by AMY FLOWERS UMBLE/THE FREE LANCE-STAR
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by design SkillsUSA relies on creative minds
Stafford high school students came out on top in SkillsUSA competition
Date published: 3/19/2006
By KATHLEEN LEWIS
By KATHLEEN LEWIS
Task: Apply what they learned in class to a design project and complete the job in four hours.
That was what area high school students were asked to accomplish for the Virginia District XI SkillsUSA competition at Germanna Community College.
And Stafford high school students excelled. (See Page C6 for results.)
Formerly known as Vocational Industrial Clubs of America, SkillsUSA is a national organization for high school and college students in trade and industrial education.
The district-level competition on March 10 had several categories.
The 3-D visualization and animation teams used information from a fictitious police report to create a 10-second animated movie clip of a car accident for a court trial.
The technical drafting students had to create a set of detailed computerized drawings for a machine valve. Each of the nine parts was shown in three-dimensional drawings.
The architectural drafting students had to design a house. The computerized design included a floor plan, front elevation and partial-section view.
The technical illustration category was the only one that didn't require a computer. The students hunched over their drawing tables with pencils and various shaped rulers. They had to illustrate a complicated piece of machinery.
The competition was judged by people who work in the industry, and students had to submit resumes that were evaluated on looks rather than content.
The students were given detailed specifications for their projects ahead of time, but they also knew that a change would be made. They just didn't know what the change would be, explained Kevin Cogley, who coordinated the district competition and designed the category requirements.
"It amazes me, the skills that these guys have. Businesses are looking for drafters and they can get snapped up in a minute," he said.
Cogley is the director of the Engineering Technology program at Germanna. He launched the program in 2004 after graduating from Virginia Tech.
Cogley is also a former competitor in SkillsUSA and a 2000 graduate of Stafford High School.
Stafford High School drafting instructor Bobby Jett was Cogley's instructor. Jett explained how drafting had changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional in the 1990s, as software capabilities improved.
Jett said that Cogley's class was the first at Stafford High School to learn the 3-D computer modeling that is today's industry standard.
In 1999, the year Cogley made it to the state competition, Jett taught him to use the software.
"We decided that they were going to do a 3-D problem at the state competition," Jett explained.
The preparation paid off. Cogley earned first place in technical drafting and went on to earn fifth place in the national competition.
Jett is proud of his former student. But he is also proud of his current group.
He tells them that regardless of where they place in the competition, just pitting their skills against someone else's is admirable.
To reach KATHLEEN LEWIS: 540/735-1975
Email: klewis@freelancestar.com
Date published: 3/19/2006
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