HUTCHINSON, Kan. — All eight students from Hutchinson Community College who attended the National SkillsUSA Contest in Louisville, Kentucky, June 24-28 earned top ten finishes in their respective competitions, including a national runner-up.

Ethan Williams of Arlington and Ryan Gawanda of McPherson finished runner-up in the College Division for Robots and Automation. The competition challenged two-person teams to demonstrate the operation of a five-axis servo-robot along with a set of sensors and motorized devices to resolve a simulated production process problem.

Teams set up and demonstrated the operation of a robotic work cell from a word problem. Contestants were required to create a flow chart and sequence of operation. Teams were also judged on efficiency, speed and teamwork.

Other area students also fared well at the competition. Isaac Hoffman (Hutchinson) in HVAC – High School Division, Adam Weldon (Kingman) in Industrial Motor Control – High School Division, and Shidarian Fonfield (Hutchinson) competing in the Masonry contest. The team of Alan Terrazas (South Hutchinson) and Emerald Brown (Abilene) participated in the in Mechatronics competition – College Division, and Emily Gerhardt in Computer Programming – College Division.

SkillsUSA serves more than 360,000 students and instructors annually. This includes 20,365 instructors who join as professional members. Including alumni, SkillsUSA membership totals over 400,000. SkillsUSA has served more than 13.5 million annual members cumulatively since 1965.