The Results

Places within the Top 10:
Wes - Marine Technology - 6th Place
Ashleigh - Commercial Baking - 7th Place
Evan - Computer Networking - 7th Place
Ryan, Logan & Evan - Engineering Technology - 8th Place
Zach - Electronic Technology - 9th Place
Cody - Sheet Metal - 10th Place

Regardless of the place these students are among the top 2% in the nation.

Team Lapeer County Ed-Tech

The Contestants

Cody, Zach, Wes, Logan, Jeff, Ashleigh, Ryan, Ian, Evan & Evan

Advisors:
Mr. Glenn, Mr. Wright, Mr. Bammer, Chef Steinborn,
Mrs. Holladay, Ms. Ross & Mr. Frederick

Tour of KCTV5

Today is our last day in Kansas City. The cool thing about coming to Kansas City for me (Mrs. Holladay) is that I used to live and work here. I was a producer at the local CBS affiliate - KCTV5. Fortunately, I still have friends that are working there and was able to schedule a tour. It is nice for the students to see what a working news station is like - especially after a tough competition. The Michigan Audio Team (and Mrs. Holladay's former students) from St. Clair TEC also got a chance to come with us for the tour. Above you can see Jeff auditioning for a spot on the KCTV5 News team.

Ian, Jeff & Josh learning about the newsroom at KCTV5.Jeff & Ian on the set of KCTV 5 news beore the noon show listening to our guide - Andrew.

Ian & Jeff taking turns at using the chroma key for a weather cast.

Evidence of a young Mrs. Holladay (and her audio extraordinar Streeter) - working as a morning show producer in 2001.

Students got to see the news from inside the control room during the noon newscast.

We also got to be in the studio during the newscast.

After the show we got our picture taken with the anchor.
Ian, Jeff, Josh, Chris Pisano (Morning/Noon Anchorman) Miss Frederick,
Kira and Mrs. Holladay

Of course after the tour of the television station - we went on a short driving tour of all my favorite spots and we had to stop at my favorite ice cream shop of all times - Murray's Cookies & Ice Cream in the Westport neighborhood. This was my second trip in two days!

The Competition

Well it's day four here in Kansas City. We have had a very HOT and exciting week here. Yesterday was a slow day for most people (except the video team - their competition started yesterday.) Ian & Jeff arrived early at the convention center and headed then headed to the Kansas City Zoo - that is were they collected their footage for their one minute commercial.
Today they spent the day editing it. At the end of the day they had a competed commercial. Tomorrow we go to a debriefing before heading for a tour of a local television station.

Evan, who is competing in Computer Networking was also busy - he was given homework at his meeting on Tuesday - so he was busy preparing for his contest and finishing his assignment. The picture above is the actual contest on Thursday. below is the judges having fun during a break - I think I see a smile underneath his serious facade.

But today was the big competition day - 1,000's of competitors filled Bartle Hall (the Kansas City Convention Center.) From Automotive to Culinary Arts to TV Production to Welding. There was a contest for everyone.

Ashleigh spent her day in the commercial baking contest.

She baked everything from breads to cakes to pies. It smelled so delicious - however as a spectator you became very, very hungry.

Here's some of Ashleigh's finished product.

Wes competed in Marine Technology - I missed his competition (he was actually eating lunch with the other competitors - when I caught up with him)Evan, Logan & Ryan spent the day presented their invention - a wheelchair mount for hunting - so that disabled people could still enjoy the sport.

Lapeer also had a contestant in Electronics Technology.

Zach is hard at work on his project.

Cody is working on his sheet metal project.

Cody is the only competitor from Lapeer returning to Nationals - he competed last year in the same competition.

Now is the point where we wait for the results. We won't know how the students did until tomorrow night - however in the meantime the kids can have some fun - most of them are headed to World's of Fun (an amusement park) for the evening. I am hoping that there will be time for ice cream before they go.

I'm very proud to be an advisor at Lapeer - the students are such an awesome representation of our communities.

Opening Ceremonies

Ashliegh & Evan getting ready to board the bus to Opening Ceremonies.

Chef Steinborn & Ashley looking cool in their official dress.

Ms. Ross & Evan
Hey, Evan! Where's your hat?

Mr. Wright helping Jeff with his tie.

Ashleigh & Chef Steinborn at Kemper Arena.

Team Digital Media Arts:
Ian, Mrs. Holladay & JeffIan, Mrs. Holladay & Jeff looking cool (but it was really really really HOT) in their plastic hats and wool coats.

Evan & Ms. Ross at Kemper Arena
Evan's hat still has not appeared?

Ashleigh excited about the ceremonies.

Jeff with this thunder sticks.

Rockin' the Red Coats

Enjoying the rock concert type atmosphere.

MICHIGAN

The Ceremony Begins.

A storm came in quickly after the ceremonies ended - giving us a slight relief from the heat. Putting the end to a very long day.

Push-Ups for Pins

Ashleigh does push-ups for a pin.

Pin collecting? You may ask what in the world does that have to do with SkillsUSA - well as it turns out a lot. At the National Conference - every state brings it's own pin. And during the conference you trade pins with other participants. It gives people a reason to talk and learn a little bit about each other. And for some people it can become quite a sport (me included.) Today is a big day for pin trading. By the end of the day, most people have traded all their pins and some of the other pins - to get the pins that they have deemed the coolest. This is done in the midst of wandering through the Techspo at Bartle Hall. The Techspo is a big convention that takes place during the actual competition - so when you have down time you can wander through and talk with the exhibitors, pick up some free gifts (key chains, candies, bags, water bottles - you name it.)

Today was also filled with competition meetings - because the competition starts tomorrow. Tonight we head off to opening ceremonies.

Jeff and Chef Steinborn trying to figue what they are doing with this "game."

Jeff is still confused.

Jeff, Ian & Mrs. Holladay showing off their newly collected pins.

Team Michigan

TV Production
Jeff & Ian

We not only represent Lapeer County Ed Tech SkillsUSA - but we are also a part of Team Michigan. Last night we had the Michigan Meeting. It was a chance to get our pins (more on that later,) badges, schedules and meet with the other members of our Michigan contingent. We also got to see what we will be wearing to the Opening Ceremonies. Yes, every state has a signature item that they were that let's people know who they are with. Last year we had some neon orange antlers - this year the head gear theme continues however now we have the neon fedoras.

Chef Steinborn & Ashliegh

International Teachers of Mystery
(or just Mrs. Holladay & Mr. Bammer)Waiting to get their hats, Wes, Mr. Glenn and Mr. WrightMr. Frederick, Evan & Logan

Let's Eat

The first day - is mainly considered a travel day - so there isn't much scheduled except a meeting tonight. It's just in case on the off chance there is a flight delay. So it gave us a lot of time to explore. There was only one glitch. It's a warm day today in Kansas City - a very warm day. The temperature is about 97 degrees - but the local weatherman said - that the temperature felt like 108 when you factored in the humidity. Needless to say - it wasn't one of those days where you wanted to spend a lot of time outdoors. But we did make time to enjoy some Sonic.

Ian and Mrs. Holladay

Chef Steinborn, Ms. Ross & Evan

Ashleigh, Jeff & Ian trying to decide exactly what to eat.