(WACO) – Cody Scheffe, 21, a student in Texas State Technical College’s Building Construction Technology program, figured he would be up for the challenge.
And, he was correct.
Scheffe won the gold medal in Carpentry at the SkillsUSA Texas Postsecondary State Leadership and Skills Conference held April 5-7 at TSTC in Waco.
“Mr. (Michael) Carrillo (a TSTC Building Construction Technology instructor) started talking about SkillsUSA, and it sounded like a good opportunity,” said Scheffe of Windthorst, Texas. “I opted in. I didn’t believe it when my name was called.”
Texas State Technical College in Waco won 24 gold medals, 15 silver medals and nine bronze medals.
“As has been the case for the past couple of years, TSTC in Waco had a very good showing, bringing home the most medals from the conference,” said James Matus, TSTC’s SkillsUSA manager. “I hope that momentum will carry over to nationals like it did last year for them.”
While some students will return to the national competition in June, others will make their debuts.
Cici Bunting, 19, is a second-semester Culinary Arts major from La Porte who won the gold medal in Commercial Baking.
“I was very surprised,” she said about winning. “Chef Gayle Van Sant had to push me out in the aisle to get my medal.”
Bunting made French bread, an empty pie shell, a apple pie, decorated a premade cake and made other treats in a six-hour span. She practiced with Van Sant and Chef Paul Porras, also in TSTC’s Culinary Arts program, to improve her skills.
Gabriella Romero, 20, of Red Oak placed first in Advertising Design. The Visual Communication Technology major could not attend the awards ceremony, so she received the news of her win through a group text.
“I was screaming at the top of my lungs,” Romero said. “It was a shock and so unreal.”
Romero worked with Visual Communication Technology instructors Stacie Buterbaugh and Jennifer Piper to perfect her design portfolio.
“They pushed me to do my hardest and helped me to get my point across to the consumer in my designs,” Romero said.
Romero will be pushed even more in her skills up until the national conference because she will have to learn how to do designs on a personal computer – the Visual Communication Technology program uses Apple computers – and also how to use InDesign.
“I’m happy I get the opportunity to show people my skills,” she said.
Gold medalists are eligible to compete at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in late June in Louisville, Kentucky.
“I think it makes a statement about the technical college and what we can put forward,” Scheffe said.
Other gold medalists from TSTC in Waco are:
Architectural Drafting: Oscar Luna
Auto Refinishing: Hector Corujo
Cabinetmaking: Timothy Watkins
Computer Programming: Jeremiah Stones
Diesel Equipment: Mark Schimank
Collision Repair Technology: Juan Alcala
Electrical Construction Wiring: Dykota Smith
Information Technology Services: Cameron Westerfield
Interactive Application and Video Game Creation: Dylan Borg and Travis Pitrucha
Job Skill Demonstration Open: Jondaria Maxey
Pin Design: David Ijegbulem
Plumbing: Jude Gonzales
Related Technical Math: Vicky Lackey
Residential Systems Installation and Maintenance: Rickie Hartfield
T-Shirt: David Ijegbulem
Teamworks: William Chance, Ricardo Delgado, Joseph Hermann, Andres Zapata
Technical Drafting: Larry Cipriano
For more information on SkillsUSA, go to skillsusa.org.
For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.
