ROP Welding Instructor Brent Tuttle and his SkillsUSA La Mirada High Welding Fabrication team of Jordan Asti, Ryan Cooper and Dakota Sun (SkillsUSA California State Officer) competed at the SkillsUSA 48th Annual National Leadership and Skills Conference in Kansas City, Missouri during the Week of Champions, June 20-27, 2012.
They placed in the Top 10! They finished 7th out of 35 other high school welding fabrication teams from across the country.
The following day, the fabrication team competed in their hands-on competition, a grueling schedule from 8am to 4pm. The welding fabrication competition consisted of two parts: a 100 question written test covering safety, and metal fabrication using a Thermal Dynamics a80 plasma cutter; and the hands-on portion.
Since April, the team has spent approximately 30 hours designing a fire pit using Google Sketch-up, a free on-line design program. To prepare for Nationals, the team actually fabricated 3 fire pits as practice.
Competitors Jordan, Ryan and Dakota participated in the orientation and passed the written exams for their specific competition.
In addition to the national competitions, advisors and students enjoyed all the fun festivities of Nationals. All attended the Champions Night at the Power and Light concert on June 24th. The next evening was the Official Opening Ceremony for SkillsUSA. After a grueling day of competition, everyone attended the SkillsUSA Nite at the Royals Stadium and watched the Kansas City Royals take on the Tampa Bay Rays.
Congratulations to Jordan Asti, Ryan Cooper, Dakota Sun and their SkillsUSA Advisor Brent Tuttle for earning a spot at Nationals and finishing in the Top 10!
If you would like more information regarding this award-winning program, please contact Carmen Lizarraga at Southeast ROP, 562.860.1927, ext. 1032 or email at clizarraga@southeastrop.org.
