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Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Shining skill
Jun. 9—MOSES LAKE — This isn't exactly the Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center's first trip to the nationals. "For 11 years straight we have placed at state competition, and eight of those years we've qualified for nationals," said Terri Pixlee, who teaches video game programming at CBTECH. "We've been all over the country. We've been to Chicago, Utah, Georgia twice, Florida (and) Maryland and this will be our second time in California." Pixlee's students Alex Meyer, Hailey Harper and Ethan Huntley competed in April at the Future Business Leaders of America game programming competition in Bellevue, she said. One team of three students took second place and will go on to nationals in Anaheim, California. Another team of two, Neri Hernandez and Jaden Salazar, placed seventh, not high enough to be assured of a berth but enough to be alternates in case some other Washington team doesn't show. So far, that doesn't seem likely, Pixlee said. "It doesn't happen very often, but it does happen," she said. In addition, Felix Neutzhorn and Zander Leasher from the CBTECH Fire Sciences and Roan Prentice from the Automotive program qualified for nationals at the SkillsUSA state competitions in Spokane in March. They'll go to the national competition in Atlanta, Georgia in July. Prentice took first place at the state competition, said instructor Lonny Steinmetz. He and teammate David Couture also won first place at the Top Tech Challenge in Yakima. CBTECH was the first school to take first at the Top Tech Challenge twice in a row, Steinmetz added. Prentice came away from the competitions with more than just bragging rights, Steinmetz said. "He won about $56,000 in scholarships along with some tools," he said. For the video game competition, the students divide themselves into teams of three, usually including an artist, a programmer and a level designer, Pixlee said. At least one of those students also needs some serious presentation chops, she said. "It's like 'Shark Tank,'" she said. "They have to present their game and sell it as if they're selling it to one of the gaming houses, so it's really kind of important they have a speaker as well." The video game creators will be in Anaheim June 29-July 2, Pixlee said. They can't afford a side trip to Disneyland, she said, but there are other things they can occupy their off-time with. "There's plenty of attractions they want to see," she said. "Venice Beach, they want to, you know, things like that that don't cost much. We'll find a little arcade." The students going to Atlanta will be there June 23-27, said Fire Sciences teacher Lynn Dodd. "It's huge for these kids," Dodd said. "The student we took last year had barely ever been out of town. It's one of their first times getting to stay in a hotel, getting to go to these fancy restaurants, and then we were taking them on their first flights across the United States. And it's like, this is cool that these kids get this opportunity to compete with the best students of the state. That we get to be a part of that is pretty awesome."
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Show of skill
Feb. 28—MOSES LAKE — It seems like everybody is talking about students going to state. Wrestling, basketball, swimming — all the state tournaments have been a topic of discussion. But not every state competition involves coaches and locker rooms. The Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, or CBTECH, will send 25 students to Washington state's SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference March 27-29, the largest contingent the school has ever sent. The SkillsUSA allows students to compete in 92 different skill areas, anything from cabinetmaking to nail care to T-shirt design. "It covers everything," said CBTECH Culinary Instructor Nathan Bathurst. "My class does baking and culinary arts. The welding class has two or three different welding competitions. The criminal justice (class) has a criminal justice competition. Then there's things like speech and job interviewing and leadership, a lot of soft skills-type competitions ... If you could think of a competition, they probably have it." CBTECH will also send students from the automotive and firefighting programs, Bathurst said. Most of the competitions will be held at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, south of Tacoma, except for firefighting, which will be at Central Pierce Fire Station 60 in Spanaway. "(For firefighting) it's how fast can they get dressed, and did they roll the hose correctly? In an emergency situation, the hose unrolls really fast (and) they need to be able to prove that they have that skill. There's a lot of knot tying and safety harness stuff, hard skills that firefighters need." Last year, a CBTECH fire science student took first place in first aid CPR and went on to the national competition, said CBTECH Director Christine Armstrong. The students' journey to this point began with smaller competitions at CBTECH, Bathurst said. The winners of those went to the regional competitions at various points around Central Washington: automotive students to Newport, criminal justice in Walla Walla and firefighting and culinary at CBTECH. The state competition is a big event, Armstrong said, 4,000-5,000 people counting students, teachers and parents. Students will take the bus to Seattle Thursday and stay at the Hilton Doubletree Seattle Airport. That evening, according to the Skills USA Washington website, they'll hear a presentation by Shea Booster, a leadership consultant and former Future Farmers of America national vice president. Competitions will begin bright and early at 7:30 Friday morning and run until 5 p.m. Saturday awards will be given out and students will find out which of them will go to the national competition in Atlanta in June. The winners at the state and national levels get more out of it than just bragging rights, Armstrong and Bathurst said. "it looks great on a resume," Armstrong said. "It looks great on any application form if you went to state or you went to Nationals for SkillsUSA, because anybody who's in a (vocational) area knows what that means, and it's pretty special." "At the state level, there's a lot of sponsorship from industries, and there's a lot of incentives for kids to be there and compete," Bathurst said. "We had a kid (who) won a $500 welder ... At the national level, there's bigger incentives. If you do really well, you can get thousands of dollars worth of prizes." One of his students placed third last year and was offered a $1,000 scholarship to a culinary school, Barthurst added. "It's a fantastic opportunity for students to see what competition on a state level looks like, and sometimes even a national level," Armstrong said. CBTECH Competitors: Baking Monique Martinez Jocelynne Bong Criminal Justice Anais Ayala Culinary Tobias Smith Marcus Peterson Lillyanne Kappel-Baker Extemporaneous Speech Ethan Ogle Emmanuel Zepeda-Lopez Firefighting Zander Leasher Mylee Dana Dehlila Diaz First Aid Jerzey Nuetzhorn Adan Moreno Brooke Dana Ceri Perkins Kora Preston Firefighting Isai Gutierrez Katelyn Fretwell Metal Art Mikayla Friedbauer Karson Kowallis Automotive Maintenance and Light Repair Grason Padilla David Couture Roan Prentice Tyler Jolley
