Six District 214 Building Trades Students Qualify for SkillsUSA State Competition; Prospect Senior is 3rd in State in Building Trades

     Students from District 214 took the qualifying exam this past February to participate in this year's SkillsUSA competition, held in Springfield, April 11-13.  This marks the first year that the district's Practical Architectural Construction (PAC) students qualified to compete at the state competition.

     Over 250 Illinois students competed in the Building Trades Regional, with only 28 students allowed to advance to Springfield. Of those 28 Building Trades students, six were from District 214.

     The District 214 top finishers are the following: Justin Strom—Prospect High School (3rd Place); Connor Mix—John Hersey High School (4th Place); Nick Lucansky—Prospect High School (6th Place); Jose Grenados—Elk Grove High School (8th Place); Lucas Kohit—Buffalo Grove High School (9th Place); and Chris Zimmer—Prospect High School (10th Place).

     "For the PAC program to have six students in the top ten, not to mention qualifying more students than any other district, validates the hard work and dedication of PAC Instructor Marc Sears," commented Jeff Jerdee, District 214's Director of Grants, Education to Career & Technology Education.

     SkillsUSA is an organization serving high school and college and professional members who are enrolled in technical, skilled and service occupations, including health occupations. Illinois SkillsUSA has approximately 3500 members in over 125 chapters throughout the state.  Competition in the Illinois SkillsUSA Championship is based on technical standards set up by business and industry.