St. Clair TEC Champions

It was an exciting night for St. Clair TEC. When we arrive back in Michigan tomorrow we will be bringing 2 Gold Medals and a Silver. The students are pictured above with SkillsUSA Director Tim Lawrence.

Nick Shepley took home the gold in Precision Machining. Nick's score was so high he qualified for the new SkillPoint Award from SkillsUSA. It is part of their new Work Place Readiness program.
Alex Super took a gold in Mobile Electronics. This is a new contest this year at SkillsUSA.

Josiah Kreidler and Matt LaDuke won the silver in Audio Production. Their score was also high enough to get a SkillPoint Award.

Craig Wilder and James Quandt didn't get a medal but they were just shy coming in - in fifth place.
All the students and the advisors can't stop smiling. We are very proud and excited of our students.

Michigan By the Numbers

It was a big year for Michigan this year at the SkillsUSA National Conference. Michigan students came home with 28 medals - that is the most ever for Michigan!

Here’s a few interesting stats:

• Michigan was 10^th in the overall medal count by state. Pretty good considering Michigan was ranked 23^rd in total membership by state.
  
• Michigan had 9 National champions, ranking 11^th in gold medals by state.
  
  
• 88 of the 155 Michigan competitors were in the top 10 for their contest. That’s over 56%!
  

More Photos from Kansas City

SkillsUSA Nationals Week

More great shots from opening ceremonies... You have to love foam antlers.

SkillsUSA took up the entire Kansas City Convention Center!And it's a huge complex.

Craig and James competing in the Mechatronics competition.James and Craig competing in a new Robotino Demonstration CompetitionNick hard at work in his competition.

John, Josiah & Christy Kreidler enjoying the after glow!

Listen to Matt & Josiah's Project

Matt LaDuke's Post

Our Time in Coldstone

Coldstone is an ice cream parlor that makes there own ice cream. Mrs. Holladay took us there after opening ceremonies. I just wanted a little bit of a mix your own and I couldn’t find it on the menu so I found the smallest mix-in ice cream that they listed and it was called “mine”. Apparently I ordered from the “make your own tub of ice cream to take home with you to have at home” menu. When they started making my order I noticed that there was a lot of ice cream. It didn’t phase me that they were making a tub for me.

At the end of the line Mrs. Holladay and Josiah were waiting and wondering why it was taking so long. I had no idea why but we soon found out. The lady behind the counter handed a half-gallon tub of ice cream up to me with a little dish to “sample”. The little dish to sample was what I wanted in the first place but instead I got a whole container that cost about twice as much as what everyone else cost. I felt bad and offered to pay for it myself but Mrs. Holladay said, no its fine.

We were sitting in cold stone for a wile and the ice cream started to melt so I started eating it. I ended up eating the entire thing, the whole half-gallon or how ever much it really was. Needless to say I wasn’t feeling the best ever after that. I went to the hotel and lay in my bed till morning when I had to feel better.

Tour of KCTV5

Today we (Matt, Josiah and I - plus the TV Video team & Mr. Holladay) toured the KCTV5 along with Josiah's parents who made the trip down from Michigan. KCTV is the CBS affiliate in Kansas City - it is also my former employer. My friend Andrew who is a technical director generously offered his time to give us a tour. It was neat for the students (who have already toured WDIV in Detroit) see a different television station in a somewhat smaller market. After the tour we hit Murray's Ice Cream and Cookies - a great ice cream shop that makes all its own ice cream. Yum! We also met up with Matt's parents who just arrived by car to the city for tonight's award ceremony!

The rest of the guys headed to Cabella's for a manly adventure. They will share their stories later. But right now we are off to the award ceremony - stay tuned for the results.

Josiah's Blog...

Overall, I'm very glad I came. I've had a great week so far in every way. Last night we went to worlds of fun and it was very fun. And the competition, although somewhat different from what we had prepared for, went very well and I'm happy with our entry. We're excited for tonight's results, but have had a great time however it turns out.

Watch Highlights from Tuesday Night's Opening Ceremony

Produced by Bruce Holladay.

Competition is Done - Now we wait...

...and in the meantime have some fun - World's of Fun (an amusement park in Kansas City.)

Today was the final day of competition at Bartle Hall. St. Clair TEC students were competing all over the building - it was hard to keep up! We started on the upper level of the convention center. It is a massive room filled with thousands of competitors competing in nearly 50 competitions. From Automotive Technology to Nail Care to Health Care to Aviation Technology to Motorcycle repair. Each area is filled with state of the art technology for the students to compete with. There were Harley Davidson Motorcycles, Ford, Chevy and Chrysler Cars, a huge jet engine and full sized diesel trucks. Needless to say this can be overwhelming as a spectator - I can only imagine trying to focus on your competition.

I first started at Automotive - I found Bob - however I was only able to get in one photo before I was informed that there was absolutely NO PHOTOGRAPHY - so here is my lone photo of Bob competing. As for Alex - he was taking a test in the morning and I was never able to find him in the afternoon - I am hoping maybe his advisor Mr. Hunter has a photo I can post.

Then I headed over to Precision Machining where Nick was hard at work (pictured above.) He look cool and collected. Nick has continued to study hard the entire time we have been out here - he has really put his heart and soul into this competition. So we are all pulling for him - hoping that his best was enough to earn him a spot on the stage.

Next we headed down to Radio Production. Matt and Josiah were hard at work editing a one minute piece on the Techspo. They finished their editing around 12:30 p.m. By the time they got done there one request was to head back to the hotel for a well deserved nap!!!

I wasn't able to get a picture of James and Craig today - but I hear the Mr. Emig has plenty for me to post. Hopefully I will have a little more time during the day tomorrow. Mr. Yanik pointed out that I am only able to blog once a day - because we are going full throttle until late in the evening - when I get back and stay up to make sure we have a early morning update. So tomorrow - I may have a little time between our tour of the KCTV5 television station and the closing ceremonies to post some more photos.

Once the competition was finished some of us headed to World's of Fun - to enjoy SkillsUSA night at the amusement park. Others enjoyed a well-deserved BBQ meal.

Since I went to World's of Fun - I have to say - it was really cool to see so many people sporting their home state's SkillsUSA T-Shirt. Josiah is sporting the Michigan shirt. While you waited in what could be long lines - it was uncommon to chit-chat with people from all over the country. I think a lot of the contestants appreciated the chance to unwind with some thrill rides after a couple days of stressful competition.

Now it's late and I'm exhausted so I will do my best to post more tomorrow. Meanwhile the boys are all getting anxious because we won't know the results of the contest until tomorrow night at the closing ceremonies. So cross your fingers for St. Clair TEC.

Day One of Competition

It was a very early morning for the students, because it was Day One of their competitions (above is another photo of the gang from opening ceremonies.) I dropped Matt and Josiah off - at 7:30 am, from there it was totally hands off for the instructors. Matt and Josiah are competing in Audio production - today was their day to gather all the audio they need to produce a one minute promotional spot. The students have no idea what the spot will be about until the arrived at the competition. This year they chose to have the students produce a spot for the Techspo (the big Expo here at the Skills Conference.) They had about 5 hours to explore the Techspo and record all the audio they needed. They will head back tomorrow to edit.

Today we also had three new arrivals to our St. Clair TEC cohort. Alex Super, St. Clair and Bob McLain, Yale were competing at the Ford AAA National Contest in Dearborn - since Sunday. Bob also won the state competition for Master Mechanic, which made him eligible to compete at the SkillsUSA nationals here in Kansas City. Alex is competing in a new contest for Mobile Electronics - so they competed in Dearborn until last night and then flew out very early this morning to Kansas City. Today was a very busy day for them - they had to get acquainted with the area, get their rooms and head to meetings to learn about their contests.

Nick Shepley, Port Huron spent the day competing in the Precision Machining contest. His contest is very intense two days of competition. We will be sure to give you a full report when Nick's done with the contest. I will be headed to the contest floor to take pictures with my camera tomorrow.

Craig Wilder, Yale and James Quandt, St. Clair competed in the Mechatronics contest. I will have more information about this for you tomorrow - after I speak with Mr. Timmerman.

Tonight I ran the world's hottest 5k - the temperature was in the 90's - however with the humidity (and trust me Michigan's most humid day does not compare to Kansas City) it felt like 100 degrees. I had a lot of fun running - I am not a fast runner - so the back of the pack is where it is at to cheer and have fun. We ran around the World War One Memorial and Museum. We finished at the steps of the memorial. This was the first year of the race - so we will cut them some slack - but if there could have been a course that was all up hill - this was it. And there was only one water station and it was a half mile from the finish - which was also out of water when I arrived. So I am sure they will read the blog here - because the world is following us - so my advice next year - MORE WATER!! (The picture is from our hotel room - the race was just about over - I didn't run with my camera - so this was what was left when we got back to the hotel. )

But the hot hilly run worked up quite an appetite - even for my students that didn't run. But we headed out to a Kansas City Favorite - The Cheesecake Factory (you may have been to the one in Chicago.) The name is ironic - yes they have fabulous cheesecake however you rarely have room to eat it at the end of your meal because the portions of food they serve is so enormous. Just take a look at Josiah and his burger - it took him a while to figure how to get it in his mouth. The picture below is before he added the bun on top of the burger. Needless to say - he walked away with a very full to go box.

Let the Competitions Begin

Today we got our first taste of what the competition will be like. We all headed to the convention center for a round of meetings. At the meetings the students got a chance to hear how their competitions will run. It is a lot of fun to see the students get more excited as the competition approaches. They have all been spending a lot of time preparing for this moment. As they said tonight - making it to Kansas City means they are the top 2% of the 300,000+ members across the United States.

The convention center is filled with not only places to compete but hundreds of exhibitors for the Techspo! So of course we managed to play some games and get some free suff. I picked up my race packet for the SkillsUSA 5k run - despite my best effort to convince someone - anyone to run with me - there are no takers from St. Clair TEC. Matt and Josiah were impressed with this set up in this car - however it's a little loud for my taste.

Then tonight was when we attended the official SkillsUSA opening ceremony at Kemper Arena. It was great - Michigan sits together - of course sporting our hunter orange foam antlers. The arena is rockin' when we get inside. There is an excitement you can just feel. It was fun to see what crazy things the other states were wearing - of course we spotted cheese heads from Wisconsin and Maine was wearing Lobster Hats - and of course Texas was sporting Cowboy hats. But words can't accurately describe the feeling - the rest of the post will be pictures. Plus it's late and we have an early morning tomorrow - as competition begins!!

Not sure if you can read it but some people had spinners that spelled out Michigan with LED lights - it was pretty cool!

We Made it!!!

We arrived in Kansas City at 5 pm. It was a long day in the air - but an exciting one. Both James and Craig experienced their first flights. Landing in Chicago for our short layover - Craig came off the plane smiling and laughing - James looked like he was happy to be back on the ground. The good news is by the time we got to Kansas City - James had a smile on his face. It seems trip two went a little smoother. The best news is when we got to the baggage claim - all of our luggage was there waiting for us!!

We got our rental cars and headed into the city. We arrived at the Westin - which is a treat. It is one of Kansas City's nicest hotels. One student called me immediately because he was unsure - "what he could touch in his room?"

We headed out for a bite to eat. There are great things to explore in walking distance including the Science Center. However the convention center (where we will be competing is a quite a hike - a couple miles - so we will be driving.)

Our final event of the evening was the big Michigan Meeting! We had a chance to meet our fellow state competitors. We also got our badges, talked about important things like contest times and curfew and got - believe it or not hunter orange foam antlers. Matt and Josiah modeled them at my request. We will all be sporting these at the opening ceremony - tomorrow evening. I am sure the will look great with our sharp red blazers.

Tomorrow is a the day we all head to meetings to learn about what's expected at our contests - and a chance to explore the huge expo - filled with events sponsors eager to give aways cool things.

There is also a sacred SkillsUsa tradition - pin trading. Each state has a pin and the goal is to collect as many as you can. It's a cool way to meet other people from around the country.

Kansas City Wx Update

It will be hot during our visit. They don't call Missouri - Misery in the summer for nothing. Brace yourselves for Hot and Humid. But it should just ad to the fun.

Good news the Westin Crown Center is air conditioned!
Stay tuned for more updates!

Kansas City Here we Come!!!

Seven students (and four advisors) from St. Clair TEC will be traveling to Kansas City, Missouri for the SkillsUSA national competition next week. Students competed in local, regional and state competitions throughout the school year. Winners from the state competition get the chance to compete against students from across the nation for a week in Kansas City.

Stay tuned here as document our trip to the national competition!