SkillsUSA Team Wins 11 Medals,

Advances to National Competition

Amanda Hurt-Piercy, staff writer

Sometimes hard work and determination does pay off.

This rang true for the South Plains College SkillsUSA chapter that won 11 medals at the state competition held March 23-25 in San Antonio.

SkillsUSA strives to provide leadership, teamwork, citizenship and character development to high school students, college students and professional members who are involved in technical, skilled, and service occupations, including health occupations.

“The students did a great job representing South Plains College,” said Gary Ham, instructor in automotive service technology at SPC and chapter advisor. “All of the members of the skill teams went above and beyond what they are required to do in class. It was really good to see them push themselves and to see that their work paid off.”

In the leadership contests, the chapter business procedures team came home with a gold medal in their first attempt in the chapter’s five-year history. The team consisted of John Ginter of Booker, Ronnie Ledbetter of Lubbock, Cris Ming of Guymon, Okla., Kim Robertson of Lubbock, Stephen Eliott of Shallowater and Jerred Bentley of Shamrock. This also happened to be the first time the chapter competed in this competition.

Ginter also a won bronze medal in the job interview and a silver medal in the related technical math contests.

In the skills contests, SPC’s Daniel Espinoza of Seagraves took gold in the diesel equipment technology contest, while Ezequiel Mora of Lubbock won a bronze medal in the contest. Cory Yesel of Littlefield brought home a silver medal in the welding competition, and Colby Fulbright of Lubbock won a bronze medal in the same event.

Bentley and Ming took silver and bronze, respectively, in the automotive written exam competition. Bently also earned a silver medal in the automotive service technology contest. Mora took the gold medal and Espinoza took the bronze in the diesel written exam

The chapter business procedures team, along with diesel equipment champion Espinoza, qualified for the national competition, which will be held June 19-24 in Kansas City, Missouri. Fulbright will also participate in the prestigious Courtesy Corp at the conference.