Seven Doña Ana Community College (DACC) students participated in a career technical competition finishing in the top twenty in the nation in their chosen fields of study.
During the week of June 19, more than 6,000 students showcased their skills in the 52nd annual National Leadership & Skills Conference sponsored by Skills USA. Five DACC students competed against other state winners in their respective technical areas. There were 100 different competitions before more than 1,500 judges.
The winners included: Doug Bourdon who competed in Electronics Technology, finishing in 6th place as did Alejandro Angel who placed 6th in Job Skill Demonstration. Michael Zischukau earned 7th place in Information Technology Services. Noemi Rosales who competed in Interworking, placed 14th, as did Arturo Lara in plumbing.
Two other DACC students participated in the National Conference: Nancy Villalobos served as a voting delegate representing New Mexico in the House of Delegates and Joni Lujan was a member of the national Courtesy Corps.
DACC faculty coaches included: Wade Matthews, Kevin Gall, Leilani Benoit, Marco Garay, and Tim Chappell.
“We are extremely proud of our DACC students who participated at the national level and represented the State of New Mexico and DACC,” said Saundra Castillo, DACC Dean of Advanced Technology. “Also, congratulations to the instructors and staff who played a vital role in preparing our students for the competition. Many of these areas of technical competition were a first for DACC,” Castillo added.
The national event featured union and management representatives from career and technical education and industry. According to the Skills USA website, “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.”
Picture: Back row: L-R – Marco Garay, Doug Bourdon, Alejandro Angel, Wade Matthews, Kevin Gall, Leilani Benoit
Front row: L-R – Nancy Villalobos, Arturo Lara, Noemi Rosales, Michael Zischukau
