The Oregon SkillsUSA club participated in six competitions over the past school year, including the District 4 competition hosted at Oregon High School for the second year in a row, with more than 25 schools spanning across the greater Madison area participating in this district-wide competition.
This included 315 individual student competitors and 21 different events. From the 24 Oregon competitors attending, 12 of them received medals. Students in the OHS chapter also had the opportunity to visit technical institutes and universities around the state of Wisconsin for regional competitions, including UW-Stout, UW-Platteville, Gateway Technical College, Fox Valley Technical College, and Mid-State Technical College.
SkillsUSA is an international organization with a strong emphasis on technical career preparation. It allows students to develop leadership, teamwork, and technical skills through various competitions and programs. In an email to the Observer, Oregon Technology Engineering Educator and long-time SkillsUSA advisor Erik Haakenson, Jr. said the program is “an amazing way to gain practical experience and prepare for future careers.”
“The skilled trades offer ever-growing career opportunities, and to give students a taste of these possibilities, Oregon High School formed its own SkillsUSA chapter in 2009,” he said.
Through these regional and district competitions, the Oregon chapter has acquired a total of 36 medals. The OHS SkillsUSA club is looking forward to competing at the final competition, being the State Leadership and Skills conference at the Alliant Energy Center and Madison College on April 9th and April 10th. Look to another Observer article for the results from the Wisconsin SkillsUSA State Competition.
OHS medal placement
Logan Schuman – Gold – Architectural Drafting
Alexander Palmer – Gold – First Aid / CPR
Miles Ertl – Gold – Information Technology
Tanner Clark – Gold – Job Interview
Andrew Hensal – Silver – Electronics Technology
Sean Panzer – Silver – Related Technical Math
Morgan Spindler – Silver – Urban Search and Rescue Robotics
Jackson Walsh – Silver – Urban Search and Rescue Robotics
Phillip Emmerich – Bronze – Electronics Technology
Toshi Tsai – Bronze – Information Technology
Tanner Schmidt – Bronze – Technical Drafting
The following students also competed:
Brady Bartlett, Alex Skripka, Anish Patel – Team Engineering Challenge
Jacob Hoeft – Electronics Technology
Reni Emmerich – Automotive Service Technology
Grant Carr, Tristan Gavin, Josiah Michels – Team Engineering Challenge
Aaron Dieter, Ashley Bambrough, – Team Engineering Challenge
Dayne Severson – Automotive Service Technology
Competition results
Mid-State Technical College (Regional)
Xander Lisowski – Gold – Technical Drafting
Morgan Spindler – Silver – Computer Programming
Toshi Tsai – Bronze – Computer Programming
Jacob Hoeft – Computer Programming
UW-Platteville (Regional)
Andrew Hensal – Gold – Electronics Technology
Andrew Hensal – Gold – Facilithon
Morgan Spindler – Silver – Facilithon
Morgan Spindler – Bronze – Electronics Technology
Xander Lisowski – Gold – Technical Drafting
Toshi Tsai – Silver – Electronics Technology
Tanner Schmidt – Silver – Technical Drafting
Alex Skripka, Brady Bartlett, Anish Patel – Bronze – Team Engineering
Jacob Hoeft – Electronics Technology
Northcentral Technical College (Regional)
Morgan Spindler – Gold – Related Technical Math
Xander Lisowski – Gold – Technical Drafting
Brady Jones – Woodworking Display
Gateway Technical College (Regional)
Morgan Spindler – Gold – Electronics Technology
Jacob Hoeft – Silver – Electronics Technology
Andrew Hensal – Bronze – Electronics Technology
Xander Lisowski – Bronze – Technical Drafting
Anish Patel, Brady Bartlett – Team Engineering Challenge
UW-Stout (Regional)
Morgan Spindler, Jackson Walsh – Gold – Urban Search and Rescue Robotics
Morgan Spindler – Gold – Related Technical Math
Toshi Tsai – Gold – Additive Manufacturing
Miles Ertl- Silver – Electronics Technology
Xander Lisowski – Technical Drafting
Anish Patel, Brady Bartlett – Team Engineering Challenge
Source: They’ve got skills: OHS students excel in SkillsUSA competitions
