MTI Wins Most SkillsUSA Medals for 7th Year

MANATEE-- For the seventh straight year, Manatee Technical Institute students won more medals than any other school in the nation at the 46th Annual SkillsUSA Championships in Kansas City. 

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Of the 942 medals awarded, Florida students took home 109 of them. MTI students alone won 61; 25 gold, 23 silver and 13 bronze medals. 

In order to qualify for the national championships, held June 21 through 25, students had to have previously won first place in state championships.

"They didn't get there unless they were already a winner. Only 2 percent of SkillsUSA members make it to nationals." stated MTI director Mary Cantrell, PhD. ”Everyone’s a winner!“ she exclaimed.

The SkillsUSA Championships are a showcase for the best career and technical education students in the nation. Students work against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations like air conditioning, entrepreneurship, criminal justice, and web design. According to students who compete, the SkillsUSA Championships is referred to as the Olympics for career and technical education.

One of the five new contests this year was Welding Art Sculpture, and MTI student Wesley Johnson took the bronze.

Highly valued by SkillsUSA, a community service event  was open to all students on the final day of the conference, June 25.  About 40 MTI students volunteered for the SkillsUSA community service event hosted by Timberland PRO. This year, students worked on several projects including building a bicycle trail, constructing a bridge, putting up siding, and creating a new community garden.

This year, seven of MTI's faculty and staff served on the National Education Team, and Cantrell served on the National Technical Team.

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The theme for this year's contests was "Champions at Work, Connecting the Opputunities", and a major highlight of the recent competition included a $10 million donation by Lowe's. 

The SkillsUSA Championships began in 1967 and has since grown to over 5,600 students competing in 96 different skill, technical and leadership fields. Nearly 1,500 judges and contest organizers from labor and management make the national contests possible.  Contest competencies are set by industry. 

SkillsUSA is partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. The philosophy of the Championships is to reward students for excellence, to involve industry in directly evaluating student performance, and to keep training relevant to employers' needs.

The mission of Manatee Technical Institute is to meet and exceed our community’s training and educational expectations. MTI is a 2007 Tampa Bay Business of the Year and has won more SkillsUSA medals than any other school in the nation for the past seven years.

Photo 1: Occupational Health & Safety GOLD–MTI students Arika McCormack, Sonia Molina, Christopher Ryan, and Jose Rodriguez won first in the nation in the college/postsecondary category of the Occupational Health and Safety – Single competition.

Photo 2: Entrepreneurship SILVER–MTI students Ricardo Fontanez, Cedanio Bacon, Jason Hrnak, and Joshua Barber won second in the nation in the college/postsecondary category of the Entrepreneurship competition. They plan to open their web design business in Bradenton next month.