{"id":30604,"date":"2023-11-17T22:41:29","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T05:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/skillsusa-competition-takes-place-at-san-juan-college\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:21:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T07:21:58","slug":"skillsusa-competition-takes-place-at-san-juan-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/skillsusa-competition-takes-place-at-san-juan-college\/","title":{"rendered":"SkillsUSA competition takes place at San Juan College"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tyler
Tyler Barnhouse, 17, a senior at Farmington High School, participated in the Skills USA diesel mechanic competition on Nov. 17 at San Juan College.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>More than 170 students showcase automotive and diesel skills\n

Creating a skilled workforce, ready on Day One to work in the automotive and diesel mechanic industry \u2013 this is what SkillsUSA is about.<\/p>\n

Students arrived from across the Four Corners states of New Mexico, Colorado and Utah to compete in the regional SkillsUSA competition on Nov. 17 at San Juan College. The students, in both high school and college, spent the day going through a variety of technical-based stations to prove their abilities in both the fields of automotive technology and diesel mechanics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn automotive, we have 150 students,\u201d said Donald Beauregard, automotive coordinator at the college.<\/p>\n

The diesel program had 27 participants, according to Jason Hayes, diesel program coordinator at San Juan College. He also is the state office coordinator for SkillsUSA New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cSkillsUSA has a mission statement to empower students to become skilled professionals, career-ready leaders and responsible community members, and they do that through a framework of personal skills, workplace skills and technical skills,\u201d Hayes said, adding there are 17 different elements to the program.<\/p>\n

\"Deion
Deion Sheppard, 24, is a San Juan College student, who participated in the Skills USA diesel mechanic competition Nov. 17 at San Juan College.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"LaTavien
LaTavien Howard, 15, left, and Evan McKee, 15, right, participated in the Skills USA automotive competition Nov. 17, 2023, at San Juan College. Howard is a sophomore at Piedra Vista High School, and McKee is a sophomore at Farmington High School.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Loren
Loren Pharr, 16, of Hobbs, is a junior in high school and he participated in the Skills USA diesel mechanic competition Nov. 17 at San Juan College. He was the bronze medal winner in his category.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cCompetitions like today are all about allowing those students to kind of showcase those skills that they\u2019ve developed in their training programs by being involved with their Skills USA chapters,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

The students go through a series of rotations. There are 20 for the automotive technology competition and 10 for the diesel mechanic competition.<\/p>\n

Some of the rotations are hands-on mechanical work, while others focus on \u201ccommunication, adaptability, flexibility and all those other things that make a career ready individual,\u201d Hayes said, adding there\u2019s even mock interviews and written tests.<\/p>\n

Hands-on diesel skills included doing an HVAC system, preventive maintenance inspection, diesel emission system, electrical systems, hydraulics, drive trains, steering, shop skills and air brakes, he said.<\/p>\n

The auto mechanics portion included air conditions, transmissions, engines, brakes, steering and suspension. \u201cWe also do an electric vehicle, hybrid vehicle station, safety station and go along with those,\u201d Beauregard said.<\/p>\n

Each automotive rotation is eight minutes, while each diesel rotations is 10 minutes. \u201cThey\u2019ve got to be able to do a lot of very, very compressed type stuff,\u201d Hayes said, adding the purpose is to prepare students for a career, and it can become a component of the student\u2019s resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing through an event like this it adds those kind of bits of flair to their application process,\u201d Hayes said, adding students can point out \u201cthese are the extra things I did. I competed here. I competed there and with the students that do actually place then that takes that flare up one more level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beauregard added that \u201cit prepares them for leadership\u201d in their field.<\/p>\n

The San Juan College competition also helped the schools decide which students would progress to the state level competition. \u201cWith automotive it\u2019s the top two students from each school. \u2026 With diesel it\u2019s the top three students from each school move onto the state competition,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

From the state competition students will progress to a national competition in Atlanta, and San Juan College has taken quite a few students to nationals, according to Hayes, who said the college uses this competition as a way to showcase the facilities it has to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge recruitment tool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis brings them all here and the students can see our facilities,\u201d Beauregard said, adding the college still sends recruiters out, but it\u2019s a different experience for students to see the facility firsthand and experience what it has to offer.<\/p>\n

\n

Post-Secondary Automotive (College-level winners) WinnersGoldThomas PipkinSan Juan CollegeSilverBrandon DrurySan Juan CollegeBronzeTanner MarquezSan Juan College<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Secondary Automotive (High School\/Dual Credit) WinnersGoldTodd WedelCareer Enrichment CenterSilverJesse DicamilloTechnical College of the RockiesBronzeCamilo MunozTechnical College of the Rockies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Post-secondary Diesel (College level) WinnersGoldAndrew StonerSan Juan CollegeSilverKyle GoldingSan Juan CollegeBronzeShavonne CheeSan Juan College<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Secondary Diesel (High School\/Dual Credit) WinnersGoldRylan DarnellSJC High SchoolSilverJohn ParkerSJC High SchoolBronzeLoren PharrCTECH<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Beauregard said one thing San Juan College can offer through both the diesel and automotive technologies program is a guaranteed career in the field, because of a shortage of skilled technical workers.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a huge, huge skills gap between the number of skilled trade jobs that are available and will be available in the next few years,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven with all the schools across the nation training, we can cannot keep up,\u201d Beauregard agreed.<\/p>\n

Both men said the San Juan College program can help \u201cput a dent\u201d in that need for a skilled workforce and programs such as Skills USA help with that. They also help young students achieve high-paying jobs in a shorter amount of time.<\/p>\n

The average salary for a student coming out of a two-year trade school program is around $45,000 with mechanics making upward of \u201csix figures in both these industries\u201d with five to six years, Beauregard said.<\/p>\n

San Juan College\u2019s program also offers students an opportunity to learn the electronics systems that are fully integrated into the automotive industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first tool that comes out of a technicians toolbox is the computer,\u201d Hayes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur programs are called fast track because they can get the training in two years that would take them six to 10 years if they just hired on someplace and started sweeping floors on their way up,\u201d Beauregard said, adding almost 80% of the students are trained to work at a dealership in two years, and they become a master technician in five years.<\/p>\n

\n

Schools participating the Nov. 17 SkillsUSA competition at San Juan CollegeGadsden High School Anthony, New MexicoCTECHHobbs, New MexicoEmery High SchoolCastledale, UtahCarlsbad High SchoolCarlsbad, New MexicoTechnical College of the RockiesDelta, ColoradoCareer Enrichment CenterAlbuquerque, New MexicoChaparral High SchoolChapparal, New MexicoCate Center (FMS)Farmington, New MexicoSan Juan College AutomotiveFarmington, New MexicoUtah State UniversityLogan, Utah<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 170 students showcase automotive and diesel skills<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-30604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30604"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81133,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30604\/revisions\/81133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30604"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=30604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}