MHS student Evan Sailer placed fourth in the SkillsUSA Employment Application competition.

Jeff Schneider
Moorhead Career Academy

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Four young Moorhead men pitted vocational skills mastered at the Moorhead Career Academy with thousands of their peers at SkillsUSA Championships in Atlanta at the end of June … an annual contest in which some 1,600 high school juniors and seniors test their skills in 115 job and leadership categories.
It was the tenth year that MHS teens have participated in the annual National Leadership and Skills Conference. The contest celebrates the skilled trades and young career-ready leaders from across the United States. It’s attended by more than 16,000, including instructors, industry representatives, government officials and, of course, the students themselves, who qualify by winning contests in their home states.
MHS manufacturing instructor Jeff Schneider accompanied the Moorhead four: Nathan Olson, who competed in automotive skills; Blake Larson, culinary; Evan Sailer, employment application process; and Ean Nelson, who had competed in the state’s photography contest but traveled to Atlanta as a fill-in on the Sebeka High School quiz bowl team.
The NLSC, recently rebranded as SkillsUSA, is a national student organization similar to Future Farmers of America, Schneider explains, but focused on trade and industry. He advises the local members, along with Chantz Rud, Kenton Wolford and Johanna Heigaard, all instructors at the Career Academy.
Sailer placed fourth in the national contest in the Employment Application category, one of 115 conducted June 23-25 at the World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Like the other competitors, he completed an online application, submitted a professional resume and portfolio, and was interviewed by the judges.
Olson ranked 17th among the 46 state champions. His category, Automotive Service Technology, required him to perform tasks at 14 stations. Among them: electrical systems, transmissions, precision measuring, alignment and braking systems.
Larson scored 28th out of 45 competitors, preparing five entrees and plating four of each. Contestants were graded on fabricating a chicken as well as creating an appetizer, soup and dessert to accompany each main dish.
“Blake actually was taking the place of Minnesota’s first-place winner, Cory Karsky,” the advisor explains. He came in second in the state contest. However, Karsky’s ship-out date for the U.S. Army conflicted with SkillsUSA, so Larson took his place.
The Sebeka Quiz Bowl team failed to make the finals, even with Nelson’s help.
To qualify for SkillsUSA, the Moorhead boys took part in the annual state competition in April along with some 500 other Minnesota juniors and seniors. The top-scoring Minnesotans went home from the national contest with three gold, three silver and five bronze medals. While the Moorhead competitors weren’t among them this year, other Spuds have topped the nationals in prior years. Power equipment student Andrew Hermann placed 11th in his first year and second overall in 2015.
“It was exhausting. It was humbling. It was exhilarating,” advisor Schneider reflects. “The experience really opened their eyes to how much industry reps support the contest and look for talent there.
“There was 3.2 million square feet of contests in Atlanta. The facility was crowded with people from all kinds of industries who not only support the program, but came to recruit future leaders in their fields. The kids got a sense of how many corporations are looking for people with the skills they’re studying here. It was an amazing experience.”