Parker Cotten became a State Champion to lead another strong performance by Monache's Manufacturing and Construction Technology Academy Pathway students at the 58th Annual SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference held in Ontario April 10-13. Monache had 13 students earn a right to compete by placing high enough at Regionals back in January. These students competed in 5 different State Contests bringing home 4 medals.
For the fourth time in five years a gold medal was awarded to a Monache MCTA student in cabinetmaking as senior Cotten won and will represent California at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference to be held in Atlanta from June 23-27.
Advisor Tim Newby said Cotten seemed to have so much fun during the contest, giving many waves and thumbs up throughout to Newby. He paced himself and actually finished a little under an hour before the 6 ½ hour contest ended.
Last year at nationals, Monache's Ethan Achterberg placed sixth in cabinetmaking at nationals, the highest finish ever for a California student. With that in mind Newby and Parker have a goal of a top 5 finish this year.
Also competing in cabinetmaking were Daniella Hernandez who placed sixth a David Valadez Lopez who placed eighth out of 19 competitors.
In the Introductory Woodworking Contest, first year competitor Alyssa Nunez, a junior, earned a Silver Medal. Newby said she's so proud of her as she seems to have come out of her shell a little bit and this was a huge confidence boost for her. Brock Christenson and Adrian Zacarias, both sophomores, also competed and earned a 5th and 13th respectively out of 23 competitors.
Mario Lopez, the Metals Advisor, had 7 students compete in welding contests. His Fabrication Team consisting of Francisco Hidalgo, Isaac Leal Santillan, and Jesus Zavala German did an excellent job and narrowly missed first, earning a Silver Medal out of 16 teams. In the Introductory Welding contest a junior, Sophia Martinez, earned a Bronze Medal while fellow students William Meier, Kayley Harris and Jason Andrade earned 5th, 6th and 12th respectively out of 20 contestants.
First year MCTA Construction teacher Jared Price, had one student compete in the Carpentry contest. That student was Angel Acevedo and he earned eighth out of 20 competitors. Price thanked Acevedo for all the time he put in after school and weekends practicing and preparing for the competition. Newby said he's proud of Price and Acevedo as he can see great things in the future for the MCTA Construction Program from the efforts of these two.
Three MCTA students were also brought up to the stage as they received $500 Scholarships from the California Industrial and Technology Educators Association, CITEA. These Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students that participate in Industrial Technology classes and SkillsUSA. Cotten and Hernandez received the Bill Gray Memorial Scholarship as outstanding students in the woodworking field. German received the Jim Hall SkillsUSA Student of the Year Scholarship that goes to an outstanding SkillsUSA student.