Technology Students Earn SkillsUSA Recognition

A gold medal class and four individual students from the Tennessee Technology Center at McMinnville earned recognition at the state SkillsUSA competition in Chattanooga.

TTC McMinnville winners included Leah Pennington, silver medal, Medical Terminology; James Fuson, bronze medal, Computer Information Technology; Steven Elrod and Zackary Myers, bronze medal, Mechatronics; and the Medical Assistant class, gold medal winners again of the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Randall Pendergraph is to also be commended for his "Migasaurus" entry for the Welding Fabrication contest.

Medical Assistant winners are Dondel Blanchard, Daisy Casas, Kateland Daniels, Shelby Holland, Heather Layne, Kelly McCormick, Jessica Meeks, Amy Morris, Leah Pennington, Tiler Thaxton and Sylvia Wildman.  Instructor is Deborah Womack.

The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes community service performed during the past year.  The 2012 Medical Assistant class performed 1,009 hours, including assisting with school health screenings, collecting items for AIM (Academics Inspiring Minds), the FUEL food project, and feeding families during the holidays.  Medical Assistants previously won the PVSA in 2011 and 2010.

Winners of medals in individual contests received their medals at Chattanooga during the state competition.  The class gold medal winners will receive their honor June 23 at the SkillsUSA Championships in Kansas City. 

SkillsUSA is a national organization that serves trade, industrial, technical and health occupations students in public high schools, career and technical centers and schools, and two-year colleges.  SkillsUSA has more than 320,000 student members annually.  Currently, more than 16,500 teachers and school administrators serve as professional SkillsUSA members and instructors.  More than 1,100 business, industry and labor sponsors actively support SkillsUSA at the national level through financial aid, in-kind contributions and involvement of workforce in SkillsUSA activities.

The Medical Assistant class at Tennessee Technology Center at McMinnville won another President’s Volunteer Service Award for its sustained community service.  Members of the class are, sitting, from left, Daisy Casas, Leah Pennington, Jessica Meeks, Kelly McCormick, Dondel Blanchard and Amy Morris; standing, Deborah Womack (instructor), Tiler Thaxton, Heather Layne, Kateland Daniels, Shelby Holland and Sylvia Wildman.

Individual competition medal winners representing the Tennessee Technology Center at McMinnville during the state SkillsUSA conference are, from left, James Fuson, computer information technology; Zackary Myers, mechatronics; and Steven Elrod, mechatronics.