Making the Grade

Student in the Spotlight

National Competition Demonstrates Solid Future for the Masonry Industry

The 39th annual National Masonry Contest was held recently in conjunction with the SkillsUSA — VICA National Championships. The contest was held at the H. Roe Bartle Hall in Kansas City, Mo., June 23-27.

It was an impressive scene as 44 young contestants from across the country, each of them winners of their own state or regional competition, worked for six hours to build their composite masonry projects.

The winners of the post secondary competition were: first place — Michael Pickels (Masonry's "Student in the Spotlight" November 2002) from The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades in Media, Penn.; second place — Luke Balsingh from PTEC Saint Petersburg Campus in St. Petersburg, Fla.; and third place — Justin Ries from Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The high school winners were: first place — Cody Alward from Mount Pleasant High School in Mount Pleasant, N.C.; second place — Andrew Miller from Earnest Pruett Center of Technology in Hollywood, Ala.; and third place — Nathan Price from Central Westmoreland AVTS in New Stanton, Penn. A $1,500 scholarship was awarded to the schools of the first place winners by SpecMix, Inc. In addition, first place winners Pickels and Alward each won a Bon Tool tool set, a Marshalltown Trowel tool set, a Dell laptap computer provided by the SkillsUSA Masonry Technical Committee, a jacket from Carhartt, a Crick level and a subscription to Masonry magazine. Second and third place winners were also provided with substantial awards.

"I'm so excited to see how well our industry pulls together to make this contest a success each year," commented Kimberly Kahl, executive director of the Arizona Masonry Contractors Association and masonry technical committee chairperson for the third straight contest. "We've added another new member to our technical committee, and I think this cooperation will only make the contest better and better."

This year's SkillsUSA — VICA Championships was the largest ever. Approximately 4,350 outstanding vocational students, each of them a state or regional champion, competed in 92 different trade, technical and leadership competitions. The contests effectively demonstrated their expertise in occupational skills required for different trades, such as masonry.