Pennsylvania College of Technology's well-equipped instructional facilities were abuzz Jan. 20 as students from nine schools visited main campus for the District 6 SkillsUSA competition to determine who advances to the state level April 18-20. Scattered among 11 labs in eight buildings, the young men and women competed in architectural drafting, automated manufacturing, automotive refinishing, automotive service, HVAC, masonry, plumbing, precision machining, residential wiring, technical drafting and welding before breaking for lunch and an awards ceremony. Before the award-winners were announced by Edward L. Roadarmel, assistant professor of drafting and computer aided design – and the college's SkillsUSA adviser – the crowd recognized a Penn College student who already is destined for national competition. Douglas R. Phillips, an aviation maintenance technology major,will be among the competitors in Kansas City, Mo. in June; there is no aviation category in state SkillsUSA competition, so the college annually holds its own qualifying event on Career Day.
– Photos by Stacey C. Hampton, coordinator of matriculation and retention, School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies;
Lynn M. Yeager, admissions representative; and Tom Wilson, writer/editor-PCToday
Headed for national SkillsUSA competition in June is Penn College's Douglas R. Phillips, an aviation finalist.
Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School's Jessica Surkin exudes confidence ...
... and displays her first-place certificate and medal in automotive refinishing
Competitors in the plumbing category are put through their paces in the Carl Building Technologies Center.
With an appropriately flame-adorned safety helmet, a student welder prepares for competition.
An automotive service student goes over his checklist in the college's Honda laboratory.
Teammates work together in the automated manufacturing competition, held in College Avenue Labs.
Trowels in hand, contestants lay brick in Penn College's new Construction Masonry Building on the northwest corner of campus.
Warren Miller, another of Columbia-Montour Area Vocational Technical School's first-place finishers, vies in the precision machining technology competition ...

.
.. and shows off the results after the awards ceremony
An electrical lab is the venue for students in residential wiring, judged by Jim E. Temple, who recently retired as assistant professor/department head of electrical technology/occupations.
With J.D. Mather, assistant professor of drafting and computer aided design, sitting as judge, students in the technical drafting competition bring their projects to life.
Edward L. Roadarmel, assistant professor of drafting and computer aided design, aided by Stacey C. Hampton, coordinator of matriculation and retention for the School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies, congratulates a SkillsUSA medalist.