Fundraiser planned for Northern SkillsUSA trip

Two Montana State University-Northern students are trying to pay their way to Louisville, Kentucky, for the annual SkillsUSA national convention, but find themselves short on funds.

Joseph Vernon and Connor Schnicke are organizing a fundraiser, asking people to take scrap metal to Pacific Steel and Recycling and to let the company know that it is a donation to the MSU-Northern SkillsUSA Club.

SkillsUSA is an organization that focuses on applicable technical sciences and takes high school and college students, trains, competes and prepares them for future careers.

Kevin Ruby, their club advisor said they have everything paid for to make the trip except for the airplane tickets, which are surprisingly high out of Montana.

“The metal scrap drive is just an idea we had,” Ruby said, adding that the students will be going if they have to choose a last-resort option like him paying for it himself.

“They’ll be representing the college,” Ruby said. “ … Thousands of students from all over the nation go and compete.”

This will be Vernon’s second year going to the convention and will be Schnicke’s first.

Vernon is a senior majoring in Diesel Technology Field Maintenance and Equipment Management. He will be receiving a double major and has a current grade point average of 3.91. He graduated from high school in 2003 and served in the Marine Corps, where he went on two tours to Iraq. He placed 10th at the national 2014 SkillsUSA contest and has been Montana state champion in the diesel service technology portion of the Montana SkillsUSA competition.

Schnicke is a junior majoring in Automotive Technology and Diesel Equipment Management. He is also pursuing two bachelor’s degrees and has a GPA of 3.8. He worked with Kenia Ford in Alaska for his 2014 co-op and Havre’s General Electric for his 2015 co-op.

Ruby said there is a lot of training that goes into these competitions and the two students will be representing MSU-Northern to companies and high schools from all over the nation.