Eastland-Fairfield Career & Technical Schools and Eastland Career Center are proud to serve as the host for the 2022 SkillsUSA South Central regional competition. This year’s competition will be held in person on March 5.
The campus of Eastland Career Center will welcome approximately 175 students from 16 nearby career-technical education centers in Ohio, including Fairfield Career Center. A total of eight competition standards will be held on campus that day with an additional five taking place at off-site locations in Columbus.
Senior Criminal Justice student, Laura Williamson (Reynoldsburg eSTEM High School), helped last year’s senior class compete as a subject in their virtual competition. Being able to compete herself and returning to in-person competition brings mixed emotions, including relief.
“It’s definitely a little nerve-wracking because I don’t know what to expect,” said Williamson. “It is really cool that I get to represent not just myself, but I feel like I’m representing my lab, my teachers, and my school.”
When asked about what she expects from this year’s regional competition at Eastland Career Center she said, “I think it’s going to feel more natural by having it in-person, talking to real people, doing it live rather than virtually, plus we have the idea of home field advantage. It’s something that will take the edge off a little bit because we are familiar with the area and we’re already familiar with some of the judges.”
With 45 students from its main campuses, Eastland-Fairfield will have a heavy presence at this year’s regional competition. Twenty-eight of those students come from host Eastland Career Center with another 17 making the journey up the road from Fairfield Career Center.
Prior to the SkillsUSA competition being altered by COVID-19 restrictions, the event would normally be twice this size. However, while some schools are opening up in-person competitions some events, specifically leadership-related events, have moved to a “straight-to-States” model where the top three finishers in that category will bypass regional competition and advance straight to the State competition. This includes students from Eastland-Fairfield’s Architecture and Construction Management program (Gahanna Lincoln) and Cyber Security (New Albany).
Much like Eastland-Fairfield’s students, Eastland Career Center’s SkillsUSA advisor and social studies teacher, John McFarren, is equally enthusiastic for this year’s event. In years past, McFarren has participated as an event judge but is now planning and organizing the event, with the hope he will have some time mixed in to observe his students in action on the day of the competition.
“I’m excited to just be a part of it instead of getting an email stating which students won or advanced,” said McFarren. “I’ve gotten to know the labs a lot better and it’s given me a little bit of perspective of the kind of skills that they learn in lab.”
On February 18, six different SkillsUSA regional sites began competition and will last through March 12. This year’s competition at Eastland-Fairfield will not be open to the public. Results can be found on www.EastlandFairfield.com in the days following the competition.
Students that advance to the state competition will compete May 3-4. SkillsUSA Nationals are set to take place between June 20-24.
SkillsUSA Ohio's mission is to empower its members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. SkillsUSA improves the quality of America's skilled workforce through a structured program of citizenship, leadership, employability, technical and professional skills training. SkillsUSA was previously known as VICA (Vocational Industrial Clubs of America). Ohio's organization started in 1952 as VIC, then the organization became a national organization (VICA) in 1965. In 1999 the National Association became SkillsUSA-VICA and then finally just SkillsUSA in 2004. With 32,751 members in the 2019-2020 academic year, SkillsUSA is the largest CTSO (career-technical student organization) in the state, and Ohio is the third largest state association in the United States. For more information about Ohio SkillsUSA, visit www.OhioSkillsUSA.org.