North Star High School students awarded at state SkillsUSA competition

A number of students from Montana State University-Northern and North Star High School in Rudyard received honors Wednesday at the SkillsUSA award ceremony for their work in a variety of competitions held this week at Northern for the 2019 SkillsUSA Montana State Leadership and Skills Conference.

"Hard work pays off," North Star Industrial Technology teacher and SkillsUSA advisor Steve Simonson said after the ceremony.

People who earned a gold medal at the Havre conference qualify to compete at the national conference, set for June 24-28 in Louisville, Kentucky,

North Star students won seven different awards, varying from first to third place, in four different competitions.

Simonson said that he has some good kids in the SkillsUSA program who are doing right by themselves and motivating themselves for these competitions. He added that it is not just him, as a teacher and instructor, who plays a role in these students' education but the other teachers at North Star help these students grow.

He said that it is great the students have won these awards and received these scholarships, but sad to see many of these students leave the Hi-Line. The students want to go to other schools to continue their education, so overall, he is glad he was able to give them the opportunity to grow their skills.

"It's bittersweet," he said.

SkillsUSA shows students a variety of vocations available that they can make into a career, he said, adding that not all good jobs consist of sitting at a desk all day. He said people who are working with their hands are making good money and have good careers and the students get to see that through the program.

SkillsUSA State Director Cassie Huntley said the the biggest benefit of the program is the students are exposed to occupations which they are able to make into a profitable career.

"This is the future workforce in America," she said. "We need them. These are highly skilled trades and it gives them a great opportunity for a fantastic life and fantastic careers. These are no longer just jobs, they are careers."

In the past these jobs may have been thought of as just jobs, she said, but with the growing technological advances they are becoming increasingly important and skilled.

Simonson said that because of the size of the state and the program of the schools they are limited in what they are able to do in the state competitions. SkillsUSA is a large program and covers a variety of vocations. He added that out of his 14 students who attended the event most received awards for their work.

North Star students Shayla Borlaug, 17, Saige O'Neil, 17, and Autumn Henke, 17, all received the silver medal for their teams' work in the Chapter Business Procedure competition.

Shayla said the Chapter Business Procedure competition consisted of showing the correct way to run a meeting, technical computer skills and performing a job interview.

They said they got involved in SkillsUSA because their school offers a wide range of technical options and stressed work in these fields offers a chance at a good career.

"Skills is a fun experience and it would be really amazing to see if more schools got involved and more people got involved it because it is actually really fun," Henke said.

O'Neil said the advisors work hard to keep the students active and know what they will excell in. She added that North Star teachers make sure the students know what they need to.

The event had more than 300 students and advisers involved from 29 Montana high schools and two colleges participating in 31 different competitions. This year's conference awarded more than $250,000 dollars in scholarships and prizes to the winning students. The scholarships and prizes were provided by Northern, Universal Technical Institute, Helena College, City College Montana State University-Billings and Wyotech.

Huntley said the first-place winners have the chance to go to Louisville, Kentucky. She added that the expenses for travel will go to the school and, as of Wednesday, did not know how many students would be traveling to compete in the national competition.

This year was also the last year for Don Michalsky as the acting state advisor.

Michalsky said that his involvement was through the Montana Office of Public Instruction as the specialist for Industrial Trades and Technology Education. He said after serving in the office for a number of years he is retiring but hopes to still be involved in SkillsUSA and work with Huntley in some capacity in the future.

Huntley said that Michalsky has played a major part in the organization, helping it grow to be what it is. She added that he will most likely still be involved, SkillsUSA is something he is passionate about, but hopes he takes some time to relax in his retirement.

Havre High School senior and Vice President of the SkillsUSA officers Sidney Scheresky-O'Neil, 18, said her favorite part of the week was the delegate meeting. At the meeting the officers talked about their past meeting and introduced students who applied for the state officer positions and interviewed them. She said that some of the questions they asked these students were what song best described their work ethic, if they could name all the different offices in SkillsUSA and how much dirt was in a theoretical hole three feet to a side.

She added that SkillsUSA helps prepare students to be career ready and fulfills the gap in the United States workforce.

SkillsUSA Treasurer and Manhattan High School junior Joshua Dyk, 17, said that the SkillsUSA program also allows students from all around the state to come together.

Scheresky-O'Niel agreed and added that even though the students are competing against each other, they are all part of a larger picture.

"You could look at our organization as one big family. We are all really close," she said.

Charlo High School's shop teacher and SkillsUSA advisor Stan Atchley said his students did really well at this year's competition. He added that what he likes about the program is it offers a variety of opportunities to students. It takes hard work all year but it is a lot of fun.

He said it is always exciting to bring home awards, but even if the students don't, they are doing their best and growing.

"They are learning different skills and learning to work as a team," he said.

Win or lose, it is about growing as a person and the students get to see their teachers in a different light, he said.

He said that, last summer, Charlo took the gold metal in the national competition in Louisville for their chapter display. The entire chapter worked on the display won gold.

"It was really awesome for them," he said.

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