from staff reports

It might have been Kansas City, but the National SkillsUSA Championships for Skilled Workforce had a little bit of Elizabethton in the mix.

And in the case of four Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Elizabethton students, that ‘bit’ was pure gold.

Pitting hundreds of high school and college students against each other in 80 hands-on occupational and leadership skill areas, the Championships awarded gold, silver and bronze medallions during the national conference June 23 and 24.

And it was gold for the quartet of Clark Arrowood, David Birchfield, Ozzy Thompson and Paul Smith, who competed as Team AD and earned the College/Postsecondary Gold medal in Career Pathways.

The SkillsUSA website notes that in the Career Pathways competition, teams use their course of study to develop a project to benefit their class, school, community or industry. Highlighting an aspect of their career cluster training, the students develop a display and use it to explain their training and their project. The contest judges mastery of their training, its application, the project’s benefit and display and presentation.

Arrowood, Birchfield and Thompson are from Carter County; Smith is from Piney Flats.

Three other TCATE students earned honors, two winning medals.

Judith Spitznas of Johnson City earned the college/postsecondary bronze medal in Medical Math, and Mountain City’s Kelly Horne earned the bronze medal in Prepared Speech.

Amanda Allen, also from Mountain City, was awarded a Skill Point Certificate in Action Skills.

Patricia Henderson, instructor of Administrative Office Technology in Mountain City, was presented a Presidential Volunteer Service Award for 500 individual volunteer hours and a team award for 1,000 hours volunteered by students to the SkillsUSA post-secondary executive council. Kelly Horne was a SkillsUSA state officer.