Photo Caption: Kishwaukee College students participated in the SkillsUSA Illinois State Leadership Conference and Championships held in Springfield on April 23-25. Pictured are the five 1st Place winners: front row, L to R, are Penny Ingalls and Susanna Hermann; back row, L to R, are Justin Kaecker, Seth Larsen, and Emerald Fannin.
Kishwaukee College students earned several top ten place finishes, including five students who were first place winners, in the Annual SkillsUSA Illinois State Leadership Conference and Championships held in Springfield on April 23 – 25. The First Place winners – Seth Larsen, Ashton, in Power Equipment Technology; Justin Kaecker, Amboy, in Early Childhood Education; and the team of Susanna Herrmann, Malta, Penny Ingalls, Sycamore, and Emerald Fannin, Sycamore, in Crime Scene Investigation – will compete at the National SkillsUSA Leadership Conference and Championships that will be held in Louisville, KY on June 22 – 26.
SkillsUSA is a national, state, regional, and local organization for technical, skilled, health and personal service occupations students in high school and college. SkillsUSA has over 300,000 members in over 14,000 chapters in 55 state and territorial associations including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. In Illinois, there are seven regions with 88 high school and college chapters representing 225 training sections.
Kishwaukee College students competed against community college students from across the state. In all, there were nearly 1500 registered participants in Springfield, plus 300 business, industry, organized labor and education professionals supporting the competitors. The students competed in a wide range of events, including Leadership Development Contests, Skilled and Technical Science Contests, Health Contests, and Occupationally-Related Contests. Kishwaukee College sent student competitors in several areas.
Greg Brink, faculty advisor to the SkillsUSA chapter at Kishwaukee College, noted that ten Kishwaukee College students medalled, meaning they placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in their respective competition, and 16 placed in the top ten. The two Criminal Justice – Crime Scene Investigations teams took both 1st and 2nd place in their competition and the Kishwaukee team swept all three top spots in Power Equipment Technology for the second year in a row. Kishwaukee College is sending five students in three fields to the National Competition. Students who finish first in their respective fields represent the top 3% of SkillsUSA students in the nation.
Kishwaukee College students who placed at the Illinois SkillsUSA competition were: Automotive Refinishing – Davor Kovacevic, Cherry Valley, 5th Place, Eliseo Leon-Hernandez, Sycamore, 6th Place, Andrew Schalk, Genoa, 7th Place; Collision Repair – Stephen Grimson, Sycamore, 6th Place, Jacob Hengels, Kingston, 7th Place, Dominique Betts, DeKalb, 8th Place; Early Childhood Education – Justin Kaecker, 1st Place; Power Equipment Technology – Seth Larsen, Ashton, 1st Place, Phil Cundari, DeKalb, 2nd Place, and Collin Hillquist, Sycamore, 3rd Place; Diesel Equipment – Brandon Snodgrass, Ashton, 2nd Place; Criminal Justice-Crime Scene Investigation (team competition) – Susanna Herrmann, Penny Ingalls, and Emerald Fannin, 1st Place and Alec Ketter, Oregon, and Alaina Stein, Sycamore, 2nd Place.
Students were recognized for their achievements at a special Awards Ceremony held on April 25 in Springfield. Winners received gold, silver, and bronze medallions as well as other awards—tools, equipment, prizes and scholarships—donated by education, labor, and management organizations which support SkillsUSA.
For more information on SkillsUSA at Kishwaukee College, contact Greg Brink at 815-825-2086, ext. 3280 or at gregory.brink@kishwaukeecollege.edu.
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