By Brad Johnson
Register-Herald Reporter
BECKLEY — Beckley will play host next weekend to 540 students from throughout West Virginia competing in the SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference.
A total of 37 different competitions involving workplace skills will be held Saturday, March 20, at the Academy of Careers and Technology on Stanaford Road.
“We have 29 students from ACT competing this year,” said David Cole, an ACT teacher and SkillsUSA advisor who also serves as site coordinator for the state conference.
“The students had to win local competitions to advance to the state conference,” Cole said. “The state winners will go to the nationals in Kansas City in June.”
ACT also hosted the state conference last year, as well as in 1999 and 2000.
“It’s normally held in a location for two years’ running, so that it’ll be easier to set up the second year,” Cole said. “That’s really worked out well this year, because if this had been the first year for us to host, we might have been in trouble, considering how many snow days we’ve had this winter.”
Preparing for the state conference is a major task, Cole said. “We started working on it in September and really focused on it after Christmas. We’re holding all but six of the competitions here on the campus. We expect to have more than 1,000 people in the building on Saturday.
“It’s a big job, but it’s all worth it when you see one of those kids receive a medal,” he said.
The public is welcome to attend the opening ceremony to be held Friday, March 19 at Woodrow Wilson High School auditorium at 6:30 p.m.
On Saturday, the competitions start at 8 a.m., with an awards ceremony held at Woodrow Wilson High School auditorium at 6 p.m.
“It’s quite a production,” Cole said. “It’s really something to see. And the students really love the event.”
— E-mail: bjohnson@register-herald.com
