Lake Area Technical College Students Earn High Marks at National SkillsUSA Competition

For immediate release.

July 3, 2019

Watertown, SD – Eleven students from Lake Area Technical College recently participated in the SkillsUSA National Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. Students participated in one of 102 competitions in career and technical fields. It is the largest skill competition of its kind in the world.

Lake Area Tech participants included Tanner Schiferl of Fordyce, NE, a competitor in the Criminal Justice competition, earned 4th place;  Joshua Ramse of Watertown, a competitor in the Computer Programming competition, earned 5th place; Noah Fullmer of Aberdeen, a competitor in the Information Technology Services competition, earned 7th place; Mitchell Halling of Watertown, a competitor in the Internetworking competition, earned 7th place; Taylor Hanson of Clear Lake, Grigory Little of Watertown, and Kristoffer Severtson of Kenneth, MN – a team of competitors in the Welding Fabrication competition – earned 12th place; Kaitlyn Reimer of Lemmon, a competitor in the Extemporaneous Speaking competition, earned 14th place; Morgan Johnson of Madison, SD, a competitor in the Prepared Speech competition, earned 16th place; Joseph Scholberg of Ortonville, MN, a competitor in the Automotive Service Technology competition, earned 16th place and Eric Mohr of Renner, a competitor in the Welding Sculpture competition, earned 22nd place.

“We are very proud of Lake Area Technical College’s SkillsUSA accomplishments,” said Katie Paulson, the South Dakota State Director. “These students are true champions in their dedication to excellence in their trade and their leadership skills.

The SkillsUSA Championships took place June 26-27, 2019, as part of the SkillsUSA 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC), a showcase of career and technical education students. During the week, more than 6,400 outstanding career and technical education students — all state contest winners competed hands-on in 103 different trade, technical and leadership fields.

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry to strengthen our nation’s skilled workforce. SkillsUSA has more than 360,000 annual members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering over 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education. For more information: www.skillsusa.org