Students from the Huron Area Technical Center will be going to a national skills competition in Atlanta, Georgia this June.

The students qualified by participating in state competitions held by different career and technical student organizations, each of which supports different areas of study.

The first competition was the DECA State Career and Development Conference, held from March 9-10 in Detroit. This was primarily for marketing students and focused on DECA's four main goals: vocational understanding, leadership development, civic consciousness, and social intelligence.

"It was pretty unbelievable," said student Jacob Williamson about the Conference. "They had cars in the lobby. The view was amazing to be able to look over the whole city of Detroit. We were also able to meet a lot of new people there as well."

The second was the SkillsUSA State Conference from April 14-16 in Grand Rapids. The competitions were focused on hands-on skills and gave students the chance to challenge themselves and their technical abilities against other students.

In this competition, three tech center students placed first in their respective fields: Avery Budzisz in esthetics, Taylor Paape in cosmetology, and Jason Murawski in power technology.

"(The event) was challenging to put the (skills) learned here (atHATC) to use, but it was also very exciting to meet new people," Murawski said.

John Hunt, who competed in industrial motor control, will join the first place students at the national competition, even though he placed third in the state. The first and second place winners declined to attend states, so Hunt has the opportunity to go.

"It was a great learning experience," he said of the state competition. "It was good to see how my work compared to others."

The third and final competition was the HOSA State Leadership Conference from April 26-28 in Traverse City, in which three health sciencesstudents competed. Samantha Harder competed in Medical Law and Ethics, Colton Darbee in Pharmacology, and Madilyn Jimpkoski competed in Family Medicine Physician.

"It was an enjoyable experience," Darbee said. "It was very challenging and eye-opening."

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Tech center students heading for national skills competition - Huron Daily Tribune