Career center’s Quinton Graham places at nationals
Quinton Graham, who completed the electronics program at the Coshocton County Career Center this spring, recently placed third in the nation in the electronics technology division of the SkillsUSA competition. Career center officials believe he is only the second student ever from the school to place at nationals. Josie Sellers | Beacon
COSHOCTON – When Quinton Graham found out he did well enough at the regional electronics competition to move on to state, he thought he’d give it a shot. That decision propelled the Coshocton County Career Center program completer all the way to the National SkillsUSA event in Louisville, Ky.
However, before going to nationals, he had to compete at the state competition in Columbus at the convention center.
“I don’t go to Columbus often so it was a different experience being there,” Graham said. “The room they had the awards ceremony in was as big as our school building. I was confident I did very badly so I was excited when I found out I got first.”
From here Graham moved on to the National SkillsUSA competition, which was held in June.
“It was still a really big city, but I felt more relaxed at the competition this time,” he said.
Graham’s competition had five parts and after all the scores were tallied he earned third place in the nation in the electronics technology division.
“I was a little more confident this time,” Graham said. “Honestly I was disappointed I didn’t get first, but third is still good.”
There were 26 students competing along with Graham and they came from all over the United States.
“It was a good way to get to know people,” he said. “I communicated with people a lot more than I normally do. It was a good experience.”
Graham came home from all these competitions with two medals, two scholarships and several different types of brand new tools.
“Mr. Ervin (instructor of the electronics program at the career center) helped me a lot in getting me where I am,” he said. “He’s very supportive and pushes me to do things. I came to the career center with a slight interest in electronics and it built from there to a bigger interest.”
Graham, who is the son of Cassie Wenck, completed the electronics program at the career center and graduated from Ridgewood High School this spring. In the fall he plans to attend Walsh University to earn a degree in computer programming.
“My advice to younger students would be if you want something, work toward it,” Graham said. “Don’t be lazy.”
SkillsUSA is a nonprofit partnership of education and industry to strengthen the nation’s skilled workforce. Driven by employer demand, SkillsUSA helps students develop necessary personal and workplace skills along with technical skills grounded in academics. SkillsUSA has more than 360,000 annual members nationwide in high schools, colleges and middle schools, covering more than 130 trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and is recognized by the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor as integral to career and technical education. For more information, visit www.skillsusa.org.
Category: Education
