Local team places in national competition

The 13th annual Marine Advanced Technology Education international competition took place in Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Alpena, Minn., June 26-28. A local team of homeschooled students placed 11th in their division, 16th last year.

Team members include David Sampsell, Natalie Sampsell, Hannah Smith, Stephen Gahman, Timothy Gahman and Ben Green. The team was featured in the July 2 issue of the Bethlehem Press.

Teams are judged on safety, a poster, a technical report and engineering.

SkillsUSA winners

The Greater Lehigh Valley was well represented at the National SkillsUSA Competition last month in Kansas City. Fifteen area career and technical students competed in nine contests areas including: Automated Manufacturing Technology, Career Pathways Showcase - Industrial & Engineering, Community Service, CNC Turning, Customer Service, Employment Application Process, Power Equipment Technology, Precision Machining, and Residential Plumbing.

Eight students brought home medals in four contest areas. The Community Service team of Brittany Sloss, Amanda Strohl and Andrew Vinson from Bethlehem AVTS took home a bronze medal for their presentation on their work with Mikayla's Voice.

Austin Berger, a student in the Small Engines shop at Lehigh Career & Technical Institute, took bronze in the Power Equipment competition.

Upper Bucks County Technical School's Automated Manufacturing team of Jason Crawford, Matthew Harman and Dylan King won the silver medal in their rigorous, three-day contest and Robert Metzger, a Precision Machining student from LCTI, took home the gold medal in the CNC Turning competition.

Robert's gold came with a $4,000 scholarship, which will help fund his post-secondary studies at Arizona State University. He will also be a contender for a spot at World Skills São Paulo 2015.

Other contestants include:

7th place: Career Pathways Showcase - Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School - Ty Druckenmiller, Larry Eberts III, Cheyenne Smith;

15th place: Customer Service - Careeer Institute of Technology - Deisy Prudencio;

5th place: Employment Application Process - Upper Bucks County Technical School -Ryan Alexander;

10th place: Precision Machining - Lehigh Career & Technical Institute - Austin Fenstermaker; and

4th place: Residential Plumbing - Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School - Brandon Kutos.

The SkillsUSA Championships is the showcase for the best career and technical students in the nation.

To get your news item in SCHOOL NOTES, send the information to George Taylor at gtaylor@tnonline.com or mail the information to SCHOOL NOTES, 308 East Third St., Bethlehem, PA 18015.