Rudyard Kipling wrote something about if you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs. Parker Cotten has also been able to put that in practice and the end result was the highest finish ever for a Monache student at the SkillsUSA National Championship in Atlanta June 23-27.
Cotten, who just graduated who was a student in Monache's Manufacturing and Construction Technology Academy Pathway, was one of only three of the 53 competitors who were able to finish the project and the end result was he finished third in the nation in cabinetmaking at last week's competition.
Cotten surpassed the previous highest finish for a Monache student which was accomplished by Ethan Achterberg, who placed sixth last year in cabinetmaking.
California had only two other students who were top three medalists in cabinetmaking since 2004. A student earned third in 2004 and another student as a junior earned third in 2005. That student came back to win gold in 2006.
While all three of the students who finished their projects made mistakes, Cotten ended up taking third because he made his mistake at the beginning of the competition. But he didn't panic.
The competition began with the most difficult part the door. Unfortunately, Cotten cut a piece short and there was no option of obtaining more wood than what was alloted to each competitor. “Where many contestants that made mistakes never recovered and eventually gave up, not Parker,” said his teacher Tim Newby. “He took a few minutes to think and problem solve.”
Cotten added a piece to correct the length. It took him about 30 minutes to recover and get back on track.
“I did make a mistake on the style of the door,” Cotten said. “I cut it a little bit too short. It wouldn't fit correctly. It happened at the beginning of the competition.”
Cotten admitted he was a little nervous to begin the competition. “I told myself not to let it get into my head and to calm down,” Cotten said.
Cotten has always been able to stay relaxed during his competitions. When he won the State title he actually waved to Newby during the competition. He said he also waved to Newby and his mother, Bonnie, who were watching, during the national competition.
“Being relaxed is a little hard to do when you're in the middle of a large convention center with a lot of people,” Cotten said. “But it was important to be very relaxed during the competition.”
Cotten said he was pleased with his finished product. “I thought I did really well,” he said. “Unfortunately the mistake was on the front end of the project. That's why I ended up in third, not first or second.”
“It feels really good,” added Cotten about his third place finish. He also gave a great deal of credit to Newby.
“And it showed Newby's a really good teacher,” said Cotten about his third place finish. “He taught me so much about cabinetmaking. I also want to thank him.”
Cotten was the fourth Monache student in five years to compet in cabinetmaking at the SkillsUSA Nationals. He advanced to nationals by winning the regionand state titles.
It's estimated 3,500-400 students from across the nation began SkillsUSA competition last fall and out of all those students Cotten ended up in the top three.
SkillsUSA represents more than 442,000 career and technical education students and teachers with middle school, high school and college/postsecondary chapters.
The SkillsUSA Framework is designed to develop Personal Skills, Workplace Skills and Technical Skills Grounded in Academics, which is integrated into the classroom curriculum. Through the Framework, SkillsUSA students hone their hands-on skills against current industry standards in more than 130 occupational areas, from 3D Animation to Welding and nearly everything in between.
At the same time, they develop the career-readiness skills — teamwork, communication, professionalism, and leadership. SkillsUSA looks to fill the ongoing skills gap, where\ more highly skilled jobs are available than skilled professionals are ready to fill them, SkillsUSA has served more 15 million individuals since 1965. For more information visit SkillsUSA.org
There were 39 high school students from all over the country that earned gold medals in their states as well in the national cabinetmaking competition. There were also 14 post secondary students from colleges that earned gold and advanced to Nationals, so 53 contestants put on their shop aprons and safety glasses to compete.
The contest began on Wednesday, June 25 with a 6 hour orientation that consisted of going over the rules and the project, demonstrating the tools and machines that would be used, and finally creating their cut lists of parts to be cut from a extensive and detailed set of plans. Advisors and parents were not allowed to view the project or the plans and could not help the competitors.
Thursday, June 26 was the build day and it ran from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a 30 minute lunch break. That's only 7 ½ hours to build the project from start to finish.
Once Cotten double checked his cut list, it was go time. Newby and his mother watched attentively the entire time without being able to help .
As the day went on Contton continued to cut parts and assemble components. With about 2 hours left he started putting the completed components together and with about 10 minutes left he was done and spent the remaining time sanding the project. When all the sawdust settled, out of all 53 contestants only 3 high school students and no college students completed the build. “This goes to show how tough this contest is and there is very little room for error,” Newby said.
Monache has been at this level 3 other times finishing 40th, 17th, and 6th. Cotten had to wait 24 hours until Friday evening at the awards ceremony to find out his finish. The finalists for High School Cabinetmaking were announced: California - Parker Cotten, Wyoming - Brody Leerssen, Indiana - Isaiah Powers.
Newby and Parker jumped up and celebrated with a big hug. Both Leerssen and Powers had competed at Nationals in 2024 as Juniors while this was Cotten's first year.
Finally, they were on stage waiting in front of the tri level podium for the announcement “receiving Bronze from California, Parker Cotten” with Leerssen receiving Silver and Powers receiving Gold.
“Parker made a few mistakes but was right there with the other 2 medalists that also had a few errors,” Newby said.
Cotten will continue his education this fall at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo majoring in Agriculture Engineering. He has no plans to pursue cabinet or furniture making as a profession but said he will use the knowledge and skills learned through the years not only to do it as a hobby but apply what he has learned into the world of Engineering.
Newby said he was extremely proud of Cotten and what the two of them have accomplished. “Now it's time to work with another group of students and see if Monache can do it again, reaching for the Gold,” Newby said.