Liam Otten (far right) from New Albany High School finished second in the country in the Internetworking category.
EFCTS | July 13, 2022
Students from seven different Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools programs competed at the highest level in Atlanta, Ga. over a four-day period and came away with much to be proud of. Rowan Toole and Liam Otten left Atlanta with silver medals, finishing second nationally in their respective events, to highlight a week’s worth of strong showings at the 2022 SkillsUSA national convention.
A group of students from Eastland Career Center, Fairfield Career Center, and Eastland-Fairfield satellite programs joined more than 19,000 people - including students, advisors, and business partners - from all over the United States for this year’s SkillsUSA National Conference and Championships. The conference nearly took over the entire Georgia World Congress Center, where the event was held between June 20-24.
Rising senior Liam Otten (New Albany High School) represented the Cyber Security program housed at New Albany High School in the Internetworking competition. Over the course of three days, Liam was asked to work a troubleshooting station, deliver a presentation on network design, field a technical support call, perform a written exam, and address the areas of end-to-end connectivity and build configuration. At the end of his event, he was awarded the silver medal, tabbing him second in the country for his category.
Rowan Toole (pictured in brown) from Reynoldsburg finished second overall in the Sheet Metal category.
Rowan Toole, a rising senior from Reynoldsburg (eSTEM) enrolled in the EFCTS Welding program, competed in the sheet metal category, where she was assigned her task upon arrival. She exhibited her skills in cutting and bonding to create a duct system for review. Her on-site submission rewarded her with a second-place finish, nationally, and a silver medal. What makes Rowan’s entry into the competition unique is that her event is tailored toward HVAC students. However, Welding instructor Brian Huston recognized her raw skill and willingness to learn, which created her opportunity to compete and take first at states and represent at nationals.
Laura Stephenson ‘22 (Reynoldsburg eSTEM) represented the Criminal Justice program at Eastland Career Center and placed fourth in the country in her respective category.
Eastland Career Center’s Graphic Design program had five students earn a trip to the national conference. In the category of Pin Design, Gabby Backer (Pickerington North) had a top-5 finish, taking fifth overall. Kelsey Ervin (Groveport Madison) placed ninth in the T-shirt Design event, and the tandem of Nina Tabin (Canal Winchester), Dominic Gerardi (Pickerington Central), and Leon Wright (Teays Valley) placed 13th overall for their display in the Promotional Bulletin Board category.
Representing Fairfield Career Center were two recent graduates, Maeve Pawlowski (Pickerington Central) and Eduardo Ramirez (Reynoldsburg eSTEM). Pawlowski finished fifth overall in the Dental Assisting competition, while Ramirez, a student in the Pharmacy program, rounded out the top 10 in the Medical Math category.
About SkillsUSA SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. We help each student excel. A nonprofit national education association, SkillsUSA serves middle-school, high-school and college/postsecondary students preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations. SkillsUSA empowers its members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. They improve the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce through the development of SkillsUSA Framework skills that include personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics. SkillsUSA serves more than 333,527 students and instructors annually. This includes 19,019 instructors who join as professional members. Including alumni, SkillsUSA membership totals over 394,000. SkillsUSA has served nearly 14 million annual members cumulatively since 1965 and is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Labor as a successful model of employer-driven workforce development.
About Eastland-Fairfield Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools is the seventh-largest career and technical education district, geographically, in the State of Ohio. We serve more than 5,000 students in 16 school districts throughout Franklin, Fairfield and Pickaway counties. Eastland-Fairfield provides more than 40 programs to over 1,400 high school and adult students. The district has two main campuses — Eastland Career Center in Groveport and Fairfield Career Center in Carroll, with satellite locations at four of our associate high schools: Gahanna Lincoln, Groveport Madison, New Albany, and Pickerington North.
Founded in 1969. Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools’ mission is to engage, enrich, and equip students every day in every experience. We prepare students to pursue their life’s next E: Employment, Enlistment, Entrepreneurship, and/or additional Education. Visit us online at www.eastlandfairfield.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn for regular updates, fun content and information.