JEFFERSON — It has been a very busy time for the Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School. On March 6 the Skills USA regional competitions took place at the campus. Schools from all over the northeast region of Ohio came to compete in various competitions that challenge them in the field they are working in, such as welding, cosmetology and graphic communications. Registration began bright and early at 7 a.m. and the events began at 8 a.m.

Students were given time limits to complete their skill competitions. The festivities continued throughout the morning and ended at approximately 11 a.m., and then lunch took place. Special thanks to Domino’s Pizza for all of the personal pan pizzas that the contestants enjoyed. At the end of lunch, students enjoyed each other’s company and met some of their competitors. After many new friendships were made it was time to end the day by announcing the winners of each competition.

The winners received Olympic-style medals, bronze for third place, silver for second and gold for first place. If a competitor placed in the top three, he or she was invited to compete at the state level, which is held in Columbus.

Many ACJVS students enjoyed success at the competition and, together with automatic state qualifiers, the ACJVS will be sending 105 students to state contests.

ACJVS Northeast Regional contestants moving on to state contests, home school and place:

Advertising design, Luis Roman, graphics communications, Lakeside, second place; architectural drafting, Aaron Potter, design drafting, Lakeside, fourth/alternate; automotive refinishing, Jason Folk, auto  collision, Geneva, second; automotive service tech, James Grogan, auto tech, Grand Valley, first place; basic health care, Matt Painter, Health Care Technology II, Edgewood, third; carpentry, Zach Hamilton, Lakeside, fourth/alternate; collision repair tech, Kashif Nicks, auto collision, Jefferson, third; criminal justice, Clark Huff, public safety, Pymatuning Valley, third; extemporaneous speaking, Mitch Irish, Electricity I, Jefferson, second; first aid/CPR, Charris Champine, HCT I, Conneaut, third; Health Knowledge Bowl: Tiffany Cogar, Lakeside, Holly Stanley, Lakeside, Kayla Webber, Grand Valley, and Brooke Bateman, Conneaut, HCT, third place;

Industrial motor control, David Ketola, electricity, Jefferson, first; job interview, Brigitte Hamilton, cosmetology, Edgewood, third; job skill demo A, Joe Curry, graphics, Conneaut, second; nail care, Lakesha Gilbert, cosmetology, Lakeside, third; nail care model, Marissa Powers, cosmetology, Lakeside; nurse assisting, Sarah Focht, HCT II, Jefferson, fourth/ alternate; nurse assisting, Carrie Douglas, HCT, Conneaut, third; prepared speech, Kirsten Weisgar-ber, HCT I, Howland, second; promotional bulletin board: Stephanie Cole, Jefferson, Samantha Olah, Grand Valley, and  Erin Akos, Ledgemont, graphics, second; residential wiring, Mike Rusnak, electricity, Ledgemont, fourth/alternate; team works: Zach Honkonen, masonry, Conneaut, John Ball, electricity, Grand Valley, Justin Hudson, carpentry, Geneva, and Daniel Welker, Conneaut, second; technical drafting, Craig Johnson, design drafting, Conneaut, third; welding, James Myers, Grand Valley, second.



BPA awards

   

State competitions for Business Professionals of America students were held in Columbus on March 18 and 19, with a number of ACJVS participants winning the right to go on and compete at the national tournament in Anaheim, Calif.

Among those honored are: Ryan Hipps, who placed second in web design; Haley Artman, with a top five finish in desktop publishing; and Anthony Pascarella, with a top five finish for payroll accounting. Also, Jessie Lanning and Joshua Callahan placed in the top 10 for Web Site Design Team, but are not going to nationals.



Helping out the Red Cross



The Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School held its second blood drive for the 2009-2010 school year on March 3 and 4. The event had students opening up their hearts and rolling up their sleeves to donate blood. Officials said that for every pint of blood donated, a person can save up to three lives. That means ACJVS students and staff may have saved hundreds of lives, as more than 182 pints of blood were collected.

“With the addition of the business technologies students helping with scheduling for the blood drive, it went very smooth,” said Mary Bettcher, a healthcare technologies instructor.

The Culinary Arts I and II programs held a pizza party on March 25 to honor all those who donated blood during the drive.

The school has another blood drive coming up on June 21.



A delicious success



ACJVS had its annual spaghetti dinner on March 4, and from the looks of things, it was quite the success. There was a sea of people and boats of spaghetti which filled the school cafeteria. There was also plenty to do at this event besides enjoy piles of noodles drenched in tomato sauce with a couple of meatballs topping it all. And don’t forget the decadent desserts that filled the school restaurant, “The Harbor Room,” which people could purchase to take home and eat later, once they were hungry again. Also, alumni could get their pictures taken and sign up to receive information about future events going on at the school.

Current students also had an event of their very own that night, that being parent-teacher conferences. So, while students were waiting outside classrooms hoping that their teachers had good things to say about them to their parents, new and incoming students had the opportunity to check out the facilities, meet prospective lab teachers and get enough of a taste of the school to make them anxious for the start of the next school year. 

A total of 759 meals were served for the spaghetti dinner. All the proceeds collected goes to the school scholarship fund.