On June 23-26, 2015, 6,000 secondary and post-secondary students travelled to the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky to compete in one of 100 SkillsUSA National Leadership contests.  Within CNC machining, over 130 of the nation’s skilled CNC students participated in CNC Technician, CNC Turning Specialist, and CNC Milling Specialist contests.  These students produced parts on a milling machine, wrote CNC programming for a part drawing and materials, and demonstrated their knowledge of technical math, machining practices, and precision measuring hand tools.

“SkillsUSA Nationals brings together the brightest young CNC machinists from each state.  Over the course of three days, these students showcase their talent and skills most demanded by the precision machining industry,” said NIMS Executive Director James Wall.  “We congratulate all of the contestants and medalists for their accomplishments.”

In recognition of student achievements, The Gene Haas Foundation awarded $1,000 scholarships to each state gold medal winner that competed in the CNC SkillsUSA National contests and additional scholarships to the top three contestants (Gold: $4,000, Silver $3,000, and Bronze: $2,000), totaling over $200,000 in scholarships.

“The Gene Haas Foundation is a proud partner and we applaud the leadership of the contestants and medalists at the 2015 SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference,” said Kathy Looman, Gene Haas Foundation Administrator.  Further, Ms. Looman remarked that “The Gene Haas Foundation is committed to investing in the future of manufacturing and supporting talented individuals in their career pathways.”

Contestants from the following organizations placed in the contests:

CNC Milling Specialist

Secondary:

• Gold Medal- Dixie Applied Technology College
• Silver Medal- Central Mountain High School
• Bronze Medal- Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School

Post Secondary:

• Gold Medal- Alexandria Technical & Community College
• Silver Medal- North Dakota State College of Science
• Bronze Medal- Greenville Technical College

CNC Technician

Secondary:

• Gold Medal- Saint Clair TEC
• Silver Medal- Greeneville-Greene County Center for Technology
• Bronze Medal- Tulsa Technology Center Broken Arrow Campus

Post Secondary:

• Gold Medal- Johnston Community College
• Silver Medal- Ranken Tech College
• Bronze Medal- Alexandria Technical & Community College

CNC Turning Specialist

Secondary:

• Gold Medal- Apollo Career Center
• Silver Medal- Cumberland-Perry AVTS
• Bronze Medal- South Adams High

Post Secondary:

• Gold Medal- North Dakota State College of Science
• Silver Medal-South Central College- Mankato
• Bronze Medal- Guilford Tech Community College

NIMS would like to extend a special thank you to the CNC contest industry partners:

• Amatrol, INC.
• AMT-The Association for Manufacturing Technology
• Boston Centerless
• Calculated Industries
• Cengage Learning
• CGTech/Vericut, INC.
• FANUC America Corporation
• The Gene Haas Foundation
• Haas Automation Inc.
• Immersive Engineering, Inc.
• Industrial Press
• National Tooling & Machining Association
• Modern Industries, Inc.
• Oberg Industries, Inc.
• Sandvik Coromant
• The L.S. Starrett Company
• TCI Precision Metals
• Vincennes University