Several Riverland Community College SkillsUSA club members captured gold, silver or bronze medals at the SkillsUSA Minnesota 2009 State Leadership and Skills Conference, in March at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington. The competitions focused on technical skill demonstration in 70 competitive events, with over 600 college students from 24 campuses of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.
SkillsUSA Minnesota is a leadership organization for students in career and technical programs in high school and college. Students participate in leadership and skills competition at local, state and national levels where they build and reinforce technical skills, self-confidence, work attitudes and communications skills. The contests were held in the following nine career and technical education cluster areas: arts and communication; construction; health services; legal and protective services; hospitality; human services, manufacturing; science, engineering and technology; and transportation.
Five Riverland students captured gold medals, which mean they move to the national SkillsUSA contest in June. Riverland students also captured silver and bronze medals and several received honorable mention awards.
Riverland's multiple medal winners include Sergio Hernandez, of Walters, awarded a gold medal for Extemporaneous Speaking and a silver for prepared speech; Jason Kennedy, Zumbrota, a silver for Auto Refinishing Technology and a bronze for Job Skill Demonstration; Dylan Kuntz, Waterville, a gold for Auto Refinishing Technology and a silver for Safety; Brandon Nelson, Ellendale, a gold medal for Prepared Speech and a silver for Extemporaneous Speaking.
Other Gold medalists include Matthew Steiner, Brownsdale, and Ivan Okhin, Genichesk, Ukraine, for Web Design.
Silver medalists include Katie Kirsch, Albert Lea, and Laura Manthey, New Richland, for Promotional Bulletin Board. Sam Bethke, New Richland, won a silver for Carpentry in the high school division. Bronze medalists included Sandra Ponce, Austin, for Nail Care and Pam Hernandez, Wells, for Nail Care Model.
Honorable mention awards went to Aaron Duxbury, Wykoff, for Carpentry; Jonathan Masching, Hayfield, for Diesel Technology; and Anthony White, Austin for Automotive Service.
SkillsUSA, a national organization sponsors the SkillsUSA Championships annually to recognize the achievements of career and technical education students and to encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen occupations. The competitions focused on technical skill demonstration in 70 competitive events, with over 600 college students from 24 campuses of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Minnesota High School students captured gold, silver and bronze medals for 171 high school division students. The competition focused on technical skill demonstration in 70 competitive events, with over 300 students from 29 high school campuses.
Riverland Community College, a member of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system, is a regional comprehensive community college inspiring learning for living through a personalized educational environment. Approximately 4,000 students are served, annually, through a wide range of credit-based educational opportunities. An additional 5,600 students are annually served in non-credit courses. Facilities are located in Albert Lea, Austin, and Owatonna, Minn. Riverland may be found on the Internet at www.riverland.edu.
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system comprises 32 state universities and community and technical colleges serving the higher education needs of Minnesota. The system serves about 250,000 students per year in credit-based courses and an additional 140,000 students in non-credit courses.
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