Kishwaukee Education Consortium (KEC) in Malta had students place, including Abel Huerta (Job Skill Demonstration A), second place; Addison McGlaughlin (Health Occupations Professional Portfolio), fourth place and Chris Thorne (Diesel Equipment Technology), seventh place.
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ATLANTA – Illinois has a new set of national champions, with young people who have turned their SkillsUSA Illinois experience into the best preparation for success in heavy equipment operation, architectural drafting, cyber security and more in career and technical education and workforce development.
A record 100 students from SkillsUSA Illinois finished in the top 10 at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference, held from June 24-28 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The students from 26 Illinois schools competed in a massive Championships session: 115 national career competitions featuring 6,647 students in a competition area of 1.79 million square feet (31 football fields, or 41 acres).
The SkillsUSA Illinois top competitors earned 26 medals against the best national competition, with eight gold medals as national champions including Cole Willke (Heavy Equipment Operator) of Kishwaukee College in Malta.
All of the SkillsUSA Illinois first competed at local and regional levels, then advanced to the state championships in Peoria in late April. Illinois brought more than 300 students from the state championships to Atlanta for the national competition.
Like the state championships, the national competition tests students’ skills and preparation as the culmination of a year of hands-on career and technical education (CTE). Industry partners, trade associations and labor organizations volunteer to judge career competitions where students lay bricks, repair engines, practice hairdressing and much more against the clock and their counterparts from schools across Illinois, and ultimately across the country.
Along with Willke’s national championship. Kish’s Lily Goode (Power Equipment Technology) took eighth place.
Kishwaukee Education Consortium (KEC) in Malta had students place as well, including Abel Huerta (Job Skill Demonstration A), second place; Addison McGlaughlin (Health Occupations Professional Portfolio), fourth place and Chris Thorne (Diesel Equipment Technology), seventh place.
