JCC Students Participate in the Nebraska State Skills USA Leadership Conference
April 15, 2024
Twenty six JCC students traveled to Grand Island to participate in the Nebraska Skills USA Leadership Conference, April 11th-13th. They competed in various events, two teams and four individuals placed in the top three in their events.
This is the first year that JCC has had a Skills USA chapter and currently has forty three members. We hope to grow this number next year. Although Johnson County Central has never had a Skills USA chapter before, Tecumseh High School had a chapter several years ago.
We have two state champions!
State Champion Gold Medal Winner - Action Skills - Zeke Burki
State Champion Gold Medal Winner - Career Pathways Showcase Arts and Communications - Amillia Gentert, Rue Kuhl, and Hailey Stafford
Our state champions qualified for the Skills USA National Leadership Conference, June 24th-28th.
Additional results:
Silver Medal - Action Skills - Bryce Frederick
Silver Medal - Career Pathways Business, Management, and Technology - William Rademacher, James Stalions Nixon, and Sergio Valles
Bronze Medal - Job Interview 9-10 - James Stalions Nixon
Bronze Medal - Early Childhood Education - Jadeyn Grobler
Our other competitors and teams who did not place include:
Action Skills- Harley Lubben, Josie McDonald, and CJ Rinne
Architectural Blueprint Reading - Bryce Frederick and Jacob Nixon
Automotive Service Technology - Jose Duarte
Bridge Building - Regan Campbell-Thies, Aiden Strecker, Jacob Nixon, William Rademacher, and CJ Rinne
Career Pathways Showcase Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources - Regan Campbell-Thies and A.J. Rautenbach
Customer Service - Juanita Grobler and Madison VanLaningham
Early Childhood Education - Aleciauna Young and Theresa Doiel
Extemporaneous Speaking - Jadeyn Grobler
Health Knowledge Bowl - Jillian Cropp, Jaquelin Duarte, Trinity Williams, and Harley Reyes
Job Interview - Josie McDonald and Aleciauna Young
Prepared Speech - Madison VanLaningham, Hailey Stafford-Thompson, and Juanita Grobler
State Pin Design - Josie McDonald, Amillia Gentert, and Rue Kuhl
State T-Shirt Design - Josie McDonald, Theresa Doiel, Amillia Gentert, Rue Kuhl
Quiz Bowl - Aiden Strecker, Zeke Burki, Juan Ceballos, Amillia Gentert, and AJ Rautenbach
Related Technical Math - Zeke Burki, Juan Ceballos, and Jacob Nixon
Technical Team Problem Solving - Sergio Valles, Jose Duarte, Juan Ceballos, Bryce Frederick, and CJ Rinne
We are very thankful for our sponsors that have helped our chapter who have all either helped prepare students for contests or who have contributed money to our organization.
• J-Co Ready Mixed Concrete
• Johnson County Central Public Schools Foundation
• Sandhills Global
• Brinkman Brothers
• Zoellner Ford
• Exmark
• Kinney Manufacturing
If any other local or area businesses or individuals would like to help sponsor our local chapter, we are always looking for new sponsors to help us fund our chapter and also individuals and companies to help teach our students new skills and prepare them for contests.
Skills USA is a great organization that offers students many leadership opportunities, but there are several expenses involved in having a chapter including, but not limited to state and national membership fees, state and national conference fees, hotel and meal fees for attending conferences, transportation fees to attend the national conference, and last but not least, clothing, tools, equipment, and supplies required for national and state contests.
Our current goals are to send our four students who qualified to nationals this June, and to purchase official Skills USA red jackets or blazers for all of our members to wear to conferences. It would also be great if we could have students participate in even more contests such as masonry, carpentry, basic healthcare skills, advertising design, cabinet making, firefighting, EMT, criminal justice, medical assisting, heavy equipment, off-road diesel, diesel technology, nurse assisting, photography, web design, television video production, and cyber security.
If anyone has an interest in helping our chapter out by being a sponsor and helping with some of the financial needs that our organization has or by helping students prepare for particular contests, please contact chapter advisor, Olivia Reuter at olivia.reuter@jccentral.org.
Thank you to the chapter advisor Olivia Reuter and chaperones Kendra Gottula and Maggie Nixon.
