In some unusual races against time, SkillsUSA competitors identified dental instruments, repaired semi-trucks and prepared meals last month in Kansas City, Kansas.
The Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College took 14 students to the national competition and three of them walked away with medals.
The competition tests the skills and knowledge of vocational students from across the country in more than 90 different categories.
“It was huge,” said Karen Peterson, 21, of Huntsville. “It was really cool to walk around and see so many competitions.”
Peterson took a silver medal in dental assisting. She is also a student at Weber State University and hopes to be an orthodontist one day.
Her adviser, OWATC dental occupations coordinator Brenda Fell, said this year’s dental assisting competition included 17 skills such as making impressions, identifying teeth and mounting X-rays.
“We did not know ahead of time what the 17 skills would be so students needed to be prepared to do anything,” Fell said.
Peterson’s medal makes the ninth dental assistant winner from the OWATC in the last 10 years, Fell said. |
