Two 2014 Collinsville High School graduates and three recent CHS graduates represented the Collinsville Vocational Center in the Skills USA 50th National Leadership and Skills Conference in June.
Photo by Roger Starkey
The group brought home three top 10 and a top 15 finish.
Ryan Brunton, a 2014 CHS graduate, was 4th in the nation in Precision Machining. Fellow 2014 CHS graduate Matt Drost finished 12th in Computerized Numerical Control Milling.
Former students Matt Campbell and Charles Berger, representing Southwestern Illinois College, tied for 5th in the Post-Secondary Automated Manufacturing Technology.
Michael Garcia, a CHS graduate also representing SWIC, finished 6th in Post-Secondary CNC Turning.
Only gold medal winners from each state attend the national competition. Qualification begins with a written exam. The top 10-30 in the state (depending on the size of machine required) move on to the state skills competition, where the first place finishers earn gold medals.
During their weeklong stay in Kansas City, the students competed with over 15,000 high school and college students from across the nation in 98 occupational and leadership skill areas.
Skills USA programs help to establish industry standards for job skill training in the classroom. Skills USA helps students discover and grow their career passions. Skills USA programs teach leadership, citizenship, and character development to complement technical skill training.
