{"id":2496,"date":"2018-01-30T09:35:17","date_gmt":"2018-01-30T09:35:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2496"},"modified":"2018-01-30T15:15:14","modified_gmt":"2018-01-30T15:15:14","slug":"belton-alumni-look-to-make-impact-at-tstc-in-skillsusa-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=2496","title":{"rendered":"Belton Alumni Look to Make Impact at TSTC in SkillsUSA Construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 A group of Belton High School alumni who won gold medals at last year\u2019s national SkillsUSA contest in Kentucky are now students at Texas State Technical College \u2013 and they want to touch gold again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Allen Harlow, Joseph Hermann and Andres Zapata were part of the high school\u2019s Teamworks construction group that placed first nationally. The team was the first from Texas to get this achievement.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe had our hopes up high and felt we did our best and gave it our all,\u201d Zapata said. \u201cWhen they called Belton out for first place, we couldn\u2019t believe it and were speechless.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, they are TSTC Building Construction Technology majors working each Friday preparing for their first collegiate-level SkillsUSA Teamworks contest in April at TSTC. But first, the group will practice against Belton\u2019s 2018 Teamworks group at the Texas SkillsUSA District 10 Leadership Development and Technical Skills Competition taking place Feb. 2-3 at TSTC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am so very proud to see our former students competing on the college level,\u201d said Belton High School construction technology instructor Craig Sullivan. \u201cI think they will do very well, if not win it all again. They have a superior understanding of how the contest is run and judged and what is expected. They have all been cross-trained in all the skills. TSTC is taking them to the next level and polishing their craft.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harlow, 19, said Sullivan convinced him to go to college though he thought about joining the military.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAllen was my team finisher,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cHe could do all aspects of the build. When needed, he would help each team member finish their skill. He was also my second mason on the team and was key in our finish last year at nationals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Zapata was involved in SkillsUSA construction most of his high school career. His favorite parts of construction are learning building codes and plumbing. Last summer, he was an intern at Cooper and Bright Plumbing in Harker Heights, where he worked alongside employees on projects ranging from pipe installation to troubleshooting water leaks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Attending TSTC was always in his post-high school plans, Zapata said. He said it felt like home with so many Belton students at TSTC. He is a 2017 recipient of the Mike Rowe WORKS Foundation\u2019s Work Ethic Scholarship.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt has helped me out to pursue my dream,\u201d Zapata, 19, said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twins Joseph and David Hermann, 20, did SkillsUSA construction at Belton. Joseph was on the national championship team and two state championship teams and David was on a Belton team that finished second in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph Hermann said he chose to do SkillsUSA in high school to stay out of trouble. Masonry has become his strength in team construction. His brother said he enjoyed learning the full range of construction through the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hermann twins were a joy to teach,\u201d Sullivan said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another Belton High School alumnus who has SkillsUSA experience hopes to make an impact in the Building Construction Technology program. Zach Henderson, 20, a 2016 Belton Teamworks member, is in his second semester at TSTC. He came to Waco with encouragement of BCT instructor Michael Carrillo and his classmates.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted to do school,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cI told myself it was something I had to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Henderson said he also wanted to be on another Teamworks team with his Belton classmates.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hungry for a national title,\u201d Henderson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Harlow, Joseph Hermann and Zapata\u2019s victory last year continued a winning SkillsUSA tradition at Belton High School. \u00a0Under Sullivan\u2019s tenure, the high school has won four consecutive state Teamworks titles, four teams have placed in the top 10 nationally and last year\u2019s team won first place.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents that have gone through our program here at Belton have bought into our motto,\u201d he said. \u201cI keep it posted in our classroom: \u2018Excellence is not an act, but a habit. We are what we repeatedly do.\u2019 That motto has served us well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TSTC is also hosting Texas SkillsUSA\u2019s District 5 for its leadership and skills contest on Feb. 9-10. District 4 will visit for its contest on Feb. 23-24.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHosting these district contests on our campus allows us to have direct access to high school students that are driven to excel in technical-related fields,\u201d said James Matus, TSTC\u2019s statewide SkillsUSA manager.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on SkillsUSA in Texas, go to skillsusatx.org.<\/span><\/p>\n

For more information on Texas State Technical College, go to tstc.edu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(WACO) \u2013 A group of Belton High School alumni who won gold medals at last year\u2019s national SkillsUSA contest in Kentucky are now students at Texas State Technical College \u2013 and they want to touch gold again. Allen Harlow, Joseph Hermann and Andres Zapata were part of the high school\u2019s Teamworks construction group that placed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2496"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2498,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2496\/revisions\/2498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}