Tense Timpview students sat on the edge of their chairs as names were announced as having won gold medals at a statewide competition between the future leaders of America’s industrial economy.

On Friday, April 13, the Timpview SkillsUSA chapter participated in the 2018 Utah Leadership & Skills Conference (ULSC), with four students winning gold medals and advancing to the National Competition.  Timpview won in three categories this year: Architectural Design, Related Technical Math, and Web Design.

Junior Theresa Gao, our first gold medalist, competed in Technical Related Math.  She won last year, but was unable to attend the National Competition; she plans on attending this year, however, and wants to compete for a third time next year.

“So we go into a room, and they read off all the instructions, and we get a booklet full of—I think there were 50 problems,” Theresa said.  “And we have two hours to complete the problems, and they’re mostly geometry, trig[onometry] and algebra.”

Timpview’s Web Design team, senior Connor Mattson and junior Langi Bryant, also won gold at the State Competition.

“We had five hours to code a website from scratch,” Connor said.  “[The judges] just gave us a fake client, and we had to do it for them,” Langi added.  “This year we had to redesign their website.”

“We would just spend hours of preparation, especially in the weeks just before the competition, just practicing and revising our knowledge of content itself,” Mattson said.  “And a lot of our preparation comes because both Langi and I are web designers, and we work for a company, so a lot of our practice comes from there, too.

Junior Mason McCloud won the gold medal for Architectural Design.  This was his first competition, and he intends on competing again next year.

All of Timpview’s contestants spent Thursday and Friday at the Salt Lake Community College Redwood Campus, one day for pre-contest meetings, the second for the competitions themselves.  Awards were held Friday night, and hasty plans are being made for those traveling to the National Competition in Louisville, Kentucky this June.

Timpview SkillsUSA participants have won gold almost every year they’ve competed, and our students have even won two gold medals at the National Competition in past years: Architectural Design and Motorcycle Repair.

“SkillsUSA is a national membership association serving high school, college and middle school students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations, and for further education,” the organization’s website states.  “SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce.”

SkillsUSA is a nationwide organization boasting an annual membership of 335,000 members, with 315,000 of them being students.  With 18,000 chapters in 53 states and territories, SkillsUSA is bigger than FBLA, DECA, HOSA and FCCLA.

Though the organization is run by students from both Secondary and Post-Secondary schools, the leadership comes from the advisors.  Timpview’s advisors—Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Bjornstad, Mr. Hassell Mr. Whatcott, and Mr. Valora—have earned tremendous respect from their students.

“I mean, Bill [Valora] and [Mr.] Whatcott, they’re the best, and they really encourage you to try harder and learn harder, and everything like that,” Connor said.

With Mr. Valora retiring this year, his 30 years of Timpview SkillsUSA mentoring have left monstrous shoes to fill.  Through his leadership, touching the lives of thousands of T-birds, Timpview Skills participants have found greatness every year.  From all past, present and future participants, as well as past and present students, we are grateful for Bill’s contributions to the school.