The Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education based in Cottonwood had 14 top three placements in several SkillsUSA competitions on April 7.
Most of those who competed were out of Travis Black’s construction class.
“We start off with safety and tools and hand tools, and then we get into masonry,” Black said. “Then we get into carpentry, basic carpentry, which we are just now finishing up.
“Now, we’re getting into our interior finished carpentry and stuff like that.”
Other skills touched on throughout the year are electrical designs, communication and personal projects that people want practice in.
Sawyer Clawson, a first year student at VACTE, placed third in the state for commercial roofing.
“Originally, I … didn’t want to do roofing at all,” Clawson said. “But during the orientation for VACTE, Mr. Black had one of his competitors come and talk. It was a roofing guy, and he was talking about everything he did, what he did and that got me interested in it.”
At the state competition, he had an 8-foot by 8-foot mockup for which he hadto build a roof. It needed at least one pipe and a curve.
He said it took a little over three hours for the whole thing, and he needed to finish every step, beginning with the IsoBoard.
“IsoBoard is pretty much the first part of the filament that goes on,” he said. “It’s pretty much like the condenser of the roofing. … Then you haveyour TPO [Thermoplastic Polyolefin], which is the actual roofing itself; that’s the waterproofing.”
In class, the students have to complete at least one project each year. For the first years, it’s a bench, which the class then uses as a fundraising tool, and the second years build sheds.
Grading happens via the projects and written tests for class and certifications.
“And then they got a hands-on test,” Black said. “So, there’s hands-on portions of this that they have to finish. So it’s about 50/50.”
Junior Sasha Barrera, who comes to Cottonwood for VACTE from Sedona Red Rock High School, said she was surprised at the amount of certifications and evaluations the students there get.
“Literally, with the first month into the school year, we already had like three certifications,” she said.
The first evaluation they received was for operating a forklift and the students were also evaluated on core construction and Occupational Safety and Health topics.
“They’re coming out debt-free with certificates, usually starting a job with an entry wage of 20 to 22 bucks an hour right now, which isn’t bad,” Black said.
Barrera, the only second-year student in the class currently, placed third in the state masonry competition.
For her competition, the organizers gave her the measurements for a wall, which she needed to build from the ground up.
“They judge the measurements,” she said. “They judge if it’s level, if it’s straight, not leaning and joints to make sure there’s no gaps, and it’s strong.”
She said she wanted to take the class because she wanted to learn new and different skills. When she first started the class, she was a little unsure how fun it would be, because she was the only girl in a class full of guys.
“But they’re surprisingly easy to get along with,” she said. “They have their moments. But, I mean, I made a lot of friends.”
Derek Baldessari competed in the college-level action skills category, for which he said he showed a skill he learned in class that he excelled at.
For it, he did a three-point saddle bend, which he said is used in electrical wiring.
It’s where the pipe bends to go over another pipe on the wall.
“After you bend the conduit, you got to wire in three different types of wires, which is white, black and green,” he said. “And white is neutral, black is live and green is ground.”
His favorite part of the VACTE class is working on the different projects to improve his skills overall.
He showed an “infinity cube” he bent plumbing piping for and soldered together.
The cube was built of pipes that bent and wrapped around each other in a way that all the pipe was made from one continuous tube that didn’t connect at the corners.
While he was the only placement in the entire category, the gold means he get to travel to Georgia over the summer to compete in the national competition, which he said he’s excited for.
VACTE Placements
Action Skills, Derek Baldessari: Gold
Carpentry, Akaih Reyes: Silver
Chapter Display, VACTE Team C: Silver
Commercial Roofing, Sawyer Clawson: Bronze
Crime Scene Investigation, VACTE Team C: Silver
Employment Application Process, James Irwin: Gold; Jacob Blake: Bronze
College Firefighting, Nathyn D’Angelo: Silver; Angelina Hillyer: Bronze
Job Interview, Skylar Jirsa: Silver
College Job Skill Demonstration A, Angelina Hillyer: Gold
Masonry, Sasha Barrera: Bronze
Occupational Health and Safety – Single, VACTE Team B: Silver
Prepared Speech, Maya Diehl: Bronze
