More than 30 students from across the region descended on Durango High School on Friday to show what they could do in a SkillsUSA-sponsored competition.
SkillsUSA focuses on career and technology-based skills. The students were competing in architecture, cabinetmaking, carpentry, computer programming, crime scene investigation, photography and welding, facing challenges created by professionals in the field and judged by those professionals after a five-hour work session.
“I would hire these students,” said Kayleen McCabe, the keynote speaker at the event, who is a Denver contractor and host of “Rescue Renovations” on DIY Network. “They not only have hands-on skills, they have leadership skills. They have good chances of getting well-paying careers, because there is demand. I know business owners who are limited because they can’t get enough workers.”
Shaun Smith, the SkillsUSA sponsor at DHS, is adding a women’s woodworking class next year to increase the number of girls involved in construction trades.
“These are very artistic skills,” McCabe said. “I don’t use canvas and oils, but two-by-fours and saws, and people live in my art.”
The projects don’t just offer a skill, they reinforce academics, McCabe said.
“It’s like sneaking vegetables into cookies,” she said. “Kids will say they can’t do algebra, and I’ll look at what they’re doing and say, ‘You’re using algebra right now.’”
abutler@durangoherald.com
