Cuesta Students Show Golden Skills

On February 10th, Cuesta students demonstrated that the training they’re learning in classroom and labs puts them among the best in the region. During the Skills USA Regional Contests, students demonstrated their welding, automotive and construction skills and walked away from the competition with ten gold medals and two silver medals.

With support from Automotive Technology instructors Bob Davidson and Gary Villa along with Construction Technology instructors Pete Lagomarsino and Rob Thoresen, and coordinator Sabrina Robertson, the students walked away with an armful of medals. In the Combination Welding category, Lucas Levenway and Titus McNellis both received Gold medals with Gary Rhodes receiving a silver medal. Scott Vanni received a Gold medal in California TIG Welding and Rory Jensen received a gold in the California SMAW Welding. Brian Callahan and Chris Burd received gold medals in the Automotive Technology division. In Collision Repair, Tyler Behlen was a gold medal recipient and Travis Otani a silver medal recipient. In TEAMWORKS, a four person team incorporating residential carpentry, masonry, plumbing, electricity and teamwork skills, the foursome of Nick Luciani, Jordan Jacobsma, James Schwind and Joe Valente received the gold medal.

At each SKILLS USA competition, students demonstrate their technical skills as well as prepare a portfolio including work samples. The competitions provide students with the opportunity to show their skill and knowledge levels and compare themselves to other students and industry standards. The national competition includes over 4,600 high school and college students from every state and a variety of occupational skill contests.

In order to reach the national competition, students receiving regional gold medals must first compete in the state SKILLS USA contest. California’s competition will be held in Riverside on April 6th – 9th.