Local students excel in state SkillsUSA, FBLA, scholar bowl contests

At the state SkillsUSA contest April 6-8, numerous local students medaled, with a few even qualifying for nationals in Louisville, Kentucky this summer.

SkillsUSA is a national organization serving trade, industrial, technical and health occupations students in public high schools, career and technical centers and two-year colleges. The organization has more than 250,000 students and professional members annually, organized into more than 13,000 chapters in 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

The Missouri contests were held on the campus of State Technical College in Linn, in conjunction with the Missouri SkillsUSA Leadership and Skills Conference.

After SkillsUSA's district competition in February, 51 out of the 53 students from Nichols Career Center who medaled at that event competed at state in Linn this month. The showing for Nichols at the district competition was the career center's best ever, and Nichols sent the largest group of SkillsUSA students to state in NCC's history, director Sharon Longan told the News Tribune in February.

The results from the state competition reflect that milestone, in terms of the 36 local students who walked away with first, second or third-place medals:

From Jefferson City High School: Phillip Branch and Kaleb Tuinstra medaled first in mechatronics and qualified for nationals; Zachary Davis and Aidan Gallagher medaled first in Robotics: Urban Search and Rescue and qualified for nationals; and including those students, 22 JCHS students medaled in total.

In addition to Branch, Tuinstra, Davis and Gallagher, four other JCHS students also placed first: Carli Dennis in Graphic Communications Tech Info., Dylan Anderson in Residential Plumbing Tech Info., Tucker Cox in Sheet Metal Tech Info. and Jacob Nowack in Electronics Tech Info.

Blair Oaks High School: Baylie Bellin qualified for nationals with her first-place medal in Screen Printing Technology; Ben Wibberg qualified for nationals with first-place in Welding; and two other students medaled in first-place too.

Those students were Jared Hake in Cabinetmaking Tech Info. and Logan Chiles in Residential Plumbing Tech Info.

Calvary Lutheran High School: Katie Goodin medaled second-place in Health Occupations Professional Portfolio.

Helias Catholic High School: William Cook medaled third-place in Cabinetmaking Tech Info.

Fatima High School (in Westphalia): Gabrielle Eisterhold placed first in Advertising Design Tech Info, and Jacob Swarthout placed first in Sheet Metal Tech Info. and second in Sheet Metal.

California High School: Matthew Henly and Damion Kinchens placed second in Mechatronics.

The national competition for SkillsUSA in Louisville will be June 19-23.

Two teams of FBLA students from Jefferson City High School will be going to that organization's national finals in Anaheim, California June 29-July 2.

The Sports Entertainment and Management Team of Nathan Erickson, Trey Padberg and Ashley Ann Davis finished in second-place at the state FBLA leadership conference.

The Marketing Team of Emily Rackers, Emily Hoerchler and Stephanie Grant also finished in second-place and will also be going to nationals.

The top ten students in each event were called to the stage at the state competition. Grant also took the stage as the ninth place winner in Business Communication. The Management Decision Making Team of Esuga Yacim, Erickson and Padberg placed sixth.

Calvary Lutheran's scholar bowl team placed first in the Class 2, District 10 tournament held April 8. The team will compete in sectional competition Wednesday against South Callaway.

The team captain is Remington Wilson, and other team members include Lydia Harms, Joey Horn, Nick Spears, Nathan Bates, Samuel Luetkemeyer and Abby Kluttz. The team is coached by Ginger Luetkemeyer and Denise Crider.