Vo-tech students deserve congratulations for national honor
A story in Wednesday’s Butler Eagle offered some evidence that Butler County does, in fact, have some of the very best students in the nation.
Students at Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School built a 7-foot tall project they called “The Jonathan” for the Chapter Display competition for the SkillsUSA program. The project took first place at the state-level competition and won third place in the national competition in June.
Built to reflect the theme of “Our Time Is Now,” their interactive display mimicked an hourglass.
Participants answer one of three questions on a sheet of paper, then ball up the paper and place it in a container. The container, shaped like an hourglass, can spin, and it also serves as a time capsule, so students can read the answers they gave later and reflect on their time in school.
The goal of the questions and the project itself was to give students a chance to reflect on their plans for the future.
Shiane Chalkley and Bennett Shaw, both seniors at Knoch High School, and Jon Crowley, a senior in the Slippery Rock Area School District, went to Atlanta, Ga., in August to participate. They were the ones who led the project, with the original idea coming from Shaine, blueprints by Jon and electrical design by Bennett.
Lee Ann Clutter, a SkillsUSA adviser for the school, said this is the first time Butler County students have placed in the national competition, and the first time they’ve gone in decades.
The project was both clever in its design and impressive in how it went together, as evidenced by its score of 906 points out of a possible 1,000.
Honors like this are a reminder of the level of talent and dedication of both the students and the instructors. Everyone involved deserves congratulations.
— JK
