Dragfreak Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 I don't know how many of you have ever heard of SkillsUSA. Skills is a competition with about 23/24 different competitions to compete in. You start out by going to your state competition where you compete against other high school kids from all over your state. My auto teacher sent me to compete in Power Equipment Technology which basically is just small engine stuff. I was told I'd be using a traditional Briggs 5 horse engine and once I showed up I was shown the "new" engine which is a L70AE diesel generator engine which I had never seen before. the competition only had four competitors good enough to compete so they had four stations: a scenario and you had to perform a write up, take a diesel/ethanol knowledge test, find 6 part numbers out of the service manual, and find out the issues with a sabotaged engine. Everything was pretty easy, on the run stand I looked over the engine before starting it and found the nut for the positive battery cable to the starter was loose, the air cleaner was missing, and the rocker arms were loose producing a tick while running. Long story short competing as a freshman against two juniors from another school and a senior from my school. AT the awards ceremony I beat the two juniors coming in a close second to the senior from my school who is a 3 time state winner and 3 time national competitor. I had a great time and I was also awarded a snap on tool set valued at about $125. I'm looking foreword to next year where hopefully I'll take first and go to the national competition where I'd compete against the best kid from every state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyBad Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Congratulations.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordairgtar Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Yes, congratulations. Hope you do well next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BKcustoms Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Congratulations! I joined this year and I'll be competing in the Welding competition next year. It sounds really fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragfreak Posted April 30, 2014 Author Share Posted April 30, 2014 Thanks! It's a great competition and a lot of fun to compete in, I believe that Lincoln sponsers the top three placers, it's pretty cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PappyD340 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Way to go Jason, Congrats on the runner up position, hang in there dude we'll all be pulling for ya next year!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 (edited) Congratulations on doing so well, Jason, and thanks for bringing this to our attention. America is facing a critical, looming shortage of competent hands-on diagnostic mechanical techs, and hands-on skills in general. This program is certainly a step in the right direction towards combating the problem. Here's a relevant article from a couple years back. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/story/2012-08-28/shortage-of-auto-mechanics-looms/57414464/1 And here's a link to the Ford / AAA Student Auto Skills Competition site https://autoskills.aaa.com/web/aaa/home Edited April 30, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragfreak Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 (edited) Congratulations on doing so well, Jason, and thanks for bringing this to our attention. America is facing a critical, looming shortage of competent hands-on diagnostic mechanical techs, and hands-on skills in general. This program is certainly a step in the right direction towards combating the problem. Here's a relevant article from a couple years back. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/story/2012-08-28/shortage-of-auto-mechanics-looms/57414464/1 And here's a link to the Ford / AAA Student Auto Skills Competition site https://autoskills.aaa.com/web/aaa/home I couldn't agree with you more, 4 kids with enough basic knowledge of a measly small engine to compete is a really sad sight. The amount of welders and welding fab kids was very low too. I'm sure you're correct that throughout the states there is a large decline in hands on skills fields of work. My auto class is extremely small further proving that more and more kids just aren't interested in the trade lines of work. Way to go Jason, Congrats on the runner up position, hang in there dude we'll all be pulling for ya next year!! Thank you Larry! Edited May 2, 2014 by Dragfreak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie8575 Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 SKILLS USA is a great competition. Unfortunately, around here, only the vocational high schools seem to do anything with it, and even then, it's not all of them, because some of them are run by nincompoops. As Bill said, and as an ex-teacher (who might be going back,) I couldn't agree more. The lack of competence for not just skilled craft labor, but for handling day-to-day tasks period is falling at an alarming rate, and we MUST fix this. In marketing, a recent development has been what's called a "product evangelist," who, like a religious evangelist, has a mission of spreading the word and converting people to sales. Jason, you and your friends in those IA classes need to be practical skills evangelists. Demonstrate the great advantages to your peers of being able to do things like fix stuff, and show them the ability to have fun with them, like SKILLS USA. Win converts to practical, applied education and the joys of being able to do things for yourself. Congratulations and best wishes for next year. Charlie Larkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Buckaroo Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 Jason that is plain awesome. A Big Congratulations to you , and the best thing is you had a good time. Hope your back at it again next year showing them who is Boss. Nice set of pliers for your tool box also. Stay with it and you will have a rewarding career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragfreak Posted May 3, 2014 Author Share Posted May 3, 2014 (edited) SKILLS USA is a great competition. Unfortunately, around here, only the vocational high schools seem to do anything with it, and even then, it's not all of them, because some of them are run by nincompoops. As Bill said, and as an ex-teacher (who might be going back,) I couldn't agree more. The lack of competence for not just skilled craft labor, but for handling day-to-day tasks period is falling at an alarming rate, and we MUST fix this. In marketing, a recent development has been what's called a "product evangelist," who, like a religious evangelist, has a mission of spreading the word and converting people to sales. Jason, you and your friends in those IA classes need to be practical skills evangelists. Demonstrate the great advantages to your peers of being able to do things like fix stuff, and show them the ability to have fun with them, like SKILLS USA. Win converts to practical, applied education and the joys of being able to do things for yourself. Congratulations and best wishes for next year. Charlie Larkin Thank you Charlie, all but 4 kids in our skills team at my high school are graduating. Now, more than ever we need to recruit kids so that the nincompoop that is running my high school into the ground, doesn't cut Skills USA because he doesn't see any value in the cost of taking kids to compete. I've been doing what I can to inform my fellow classmates about what exactly Skills is, but kids these days just don't seem interested, making it extremely hard. Jason that is plain awesome. A Big Congratulations to you , and the best thing is you had a good time. Hope your back at it again next year showing them who is Boss. Nice set of pliers for your tool box also. Stay with it and you will have a rewarding career. Thank you Sean, I've heard a lot of national competitors get offerings from various tech schools. That would be a great opportunity to have right there. Edited May 3, 2014 by Dragfreak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace-Garageguy Posted May 3, 2014 Share Posted May 3, 2014 ... but kids these days just don't seem interested, making it extremely hard. I work with an internationally-known hot-rod shop here, and we're needing people to help keep up with the work backlog. We'd prefer trainees to teach them the RIGHT way to do stuff, rather than hire hackers who think they're experts. I'd think there would be a line around the block of young guys wanting to get hired, but nobody seems interested, and the few young ones we try out get discouraged almost immediately when they find out it's not a glamor job like on TV, and that to develop a skill-set takes a lot of hard, dirty work over several years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie8575 Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 I work with an internationally-known hot-rod shop here, and we're needing people to help keep up with the work backlog. We'd prefer trainees to teach them the RIGHT way to do stuff, rather than hire hackers who think they're experts. I'd think there would be a line around the block of young guys wanting to get hired, but nobody seems interested, and the few young ones we try out get discouraged almost immediately when they find out it's not a glamor job like on TV, and that to develop a skill-set takes a lot of hard, dirty work over several years. The instant-gratification culture at "work" again, I see.... It really does sadden me to no end. When I was subbing last school year, I took great pains to explain to some fifth graders the benefits of working for something, taking your time, and not being afraid of errors and then learning from them. It ran counter to all their indoctrinating. A few kids got it. The rest.....time will tell. Charlie Larkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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