Salem High School Construction Trades students started practicing early for the Skills USA district contest that was held on Feb. 22nd.
Instructor, A.J. Tinker, held an in-house contest because, while four students were interested in competing, only two students could attend the contest. He asked the students how often they wanted to practice and they said they wanted to practice 2-3 times a week. In addition, the students even came in on a Saturday to practice. They practiced for 2-4 hours in the evenings after school, and they came in to practice on days that school was not in session due to snow. And it paid off.
“They really put the time in and wanted to be ready,” said Mr. Tinker. “ The day of the contest I could not have been more proud of the two students selected to compete. They had a good day and it showed.”
There were 12 contestants from different schools, but only five students out of the 12 actually finished the project. Salem High School Construction Trades Program students were two of the five. Dell Hoffmeister, a junior in the program, placed first in the skills contest. Jay Busbey, a senior in the program, placed 3rd in the written contest. The Skills USA District Written Contest was held in January, with seven schools in the district competing. Districts can send as many students as they want out of each program to take the written contest, and, this year, there were 75 students in the contest.
Both Dell and Jay will compete in the Skills USA state contest that will be held April 4-6 at Linn Tech in Linn, Missouri.