And the winners are… Fred Eberle announces local SkillsUSA Competition results

Beckie Boyd
February 24, 2025

BUCKHANNON — Thursday, Feb. 13, was an exciting day at Fred W. Eberle Technical Center as the school hosted the annual SkillsUSA Local Competition, which called on high school and adult students from each program to complete a variety of tasks based on the fundamentals of their respective trades.

For those who may not know, Fred Eberle Technical Center is the first multi-county career technical center established in the state of West Virginia. The center offers high school-aged students as well as adults the opportunity to explore technical trades offered on their campus in Buckhannon.

“We brought in our business and industry partners, as well as our advisory committee members, to be the judges for each program’s contest,” said Rebecca Bowers-Call, Director of Fred W. Eberle Technical Center. “Our partners get to see our students hard at work while showing their skills. Not only do our partners get to see the finished product, but they get to watch the students as they work through that process. They’re seeing the student’s thinking that happens behind building a wall, building a set of stairs, etc.”

As described on the SkillsUSA WV website, the student-led program “empowers its members to become world-class workers, leaders and responsible American citizens. SkillsUSA WV improves the quality of our nation’s future skilled workforce through the development of framework skills that include personal, workplace and technical skills grounded in academics.”

Each testing location on the campus of FETC grew quiet in deep concentration as the stopwatch click marked the beginning of each session on Thursday morning. Fellow peers anxiously watched on as their friends and classmates were hard at work.

“Business partners and our students can have one-on-one communication following the competition to see where the student’s interests, abilities, strengths and weaknesses are,” Bowers-Call said. “The SkillsUSA Local Competition is a great chance for businesses and students to collaborate and work toward the next steps of completing their programs, whether it is high school graduation, or, as an adult student, graduating from the program.”

Following a day of intense competition, FETC students, their family members, instructors and school administration then gathered at Buckhannon-Upshur High School auditorium Thursday evening to learn their own placing alongside their fellow competitors.

Students placing first in the local competition will then participate in the 2025 SkillsUSA WV State Leadership and Skills Conference that will take place March 28-29, 2025. Bowers-Call announced the FETC campus is one of several competition venues for the following programs for the state competition: Automotive Light Repair (MLR), Basic Residential Wiring, Industrial Motor Control, and Welding I (Entry Level Welding).

Students who place at the state competition will then move on to the 2025 SkillsUSA National Championship on June 23-27, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more about the SkillsUSA West Virginia State and National Competitions at SkillsUSAWV.org. At each level, students are provided a variety of prizes, such as tuition scholarships, job offers, tools and other unique awards.

Participating businesses partners included: Roger Carpenter, PWL – Floyd Mullins, Weatherservice, Richards Heat and Air, Comfortech, Tammy Bragg, Carissa Kerr, Angela Jones, Alyssa Howell, Camden Creek, Shear Bliss, Caplan’s Jewelers, Mary Mart, Appalachian Glass, Linda Arbogast, Sheila Lewis Sines, Amtower Napa, Raven Contracting LLC, St. Joseph’s Hospital, FBI (Jeremy Matko), New Tech Systems (Charlie Skinner), 304 Electric (Brandon Zickefoose), Let There Be Light Electric (Mike Wiley), State Electric, Twisted Wire Electrical Services, Trei County Electric, IBEW Local 596, Master Service, Grays Electric, Lazy J Farms, Rob Miller, Appalachian Equipment Solutions (Dalton Queen, Brandon Litler), Weyerhaeuser (Nathan Clevenger), Arsenal (Ryan Boone), North American Drillers (Cole Shreve), Specialty Groups Inc. (Landon Lewis), Jacob Bailey, Chad Stocks, Cleveland Brothers (Rico Insani), Greg Wilcox, Upshur County Schools Transportation (Vincent Dahman), Nick Bosley, Upper Dublin Township (Randy Butcher), Jenkins Subaru (Aiden Hagerich), Donn Ross, WV DOH (Mike Page, Bradley Hoover), Jimmie Casto, United Rental (Nathan Hoover), Jay Bryant, Kelli Ervin, WVWC, Marshall Powers, Harper Lumber and Elkins Builder Supply.

Follow FETC on Facebook for frequent updates on student projects, upcoming events and more.

See the 2025 FETC Local SkillsUSA Competition results below:

AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY – SECONDARY

1st Place – Charlie Supers (Lewis County)
2nd Place – Nathan Hoover (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Owen Johnson (Barbour County)

AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Greg Cashman (Barbour County)

CARPENTRY – SECONDARY

1st Place – Kyle McCann (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Wyatt Morris (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Domenick Castillo (Upshur County)

CARPENTRY – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Liam Garcia (Upshur County)

COLLISION REPAIR TECHNOLOGY– SECONDARY

1st Place – Leah Bennett (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Isaac Snodgrass (Upshur County)

COLLISION REPAIR TECHNOLOGY – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Payden Pringle (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Dillon Peck (Upshur County)

COMPUTER REPAIR – SECONDARY

1st Place – Jace Bennett (Lewis County)
2nd Place – Braiden McKisic (Upshur County)

COMPUTER REPAIR – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Kenny Snodgrass (Upshur County)

COSMETOLOGY – SECONDARY

1st Place – Cassidy Rohr (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Breona Waggy (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Chelsea Lopes (Barbour County)

COSMETOLOGY – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Katie Wilson (Tucker County)
2nd Place – Brianna Pritt (Lewis County)

DIESEL TECHNOLOGY – SECONDARY

1st Place – Kaleb Overbey (Lewis County)
2nd Place – Andrew Howard (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Chase Hackett (Upshur County)

DIESEL TECHNOLOGY – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Ian Kelley (Preston County)
2nd Place – Cody Atwell (Upshur County)

ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION WIRING – SECONDARY

1st Place – Scott Yokum (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Daniel Hedrick (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Hunter Potts (Upshur County)

ELECTRICAL CONSTRUCTION WIRING – POST-SECONDARY

1st Place – Gerry Thompson (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Robert Tenney (Lewis County)
3rd Place – Josh Amick (Harrison County)

INDUSTRIAL MOTOR CONTROL – SECONDARY

1st Place – Garrett Goff (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Jacob Gray (Barbour County)
3rd Place – Garrett Freeman (Lewis County)

FIRST AID & CPR – SECONDARY

1st Place – Kaylin Tinney (Lewis County)
2nd Place – Kylee Johnson (Upshur County)

HEALTH KNOWLEDGE BOWL – SECONDARY

1st Place Team – Wyatt Call (Lewis County), Bethany Heckert (Lewis County), Gracelyn Crites (Barbour County), Carly McHenry (Upshur County)

MEDICAL ASSISTING – SECONDARY

1st Place – Sophia Lantz (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Elaney Herron (Upshur County)

MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY – SECONDARY

1st Place – Sara Burns (Lewis County)
2nd Place – Casey Kelley (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Hailey Marple (Lewis County)

HVAC – SECONDARY

1st Place – Dakota Tharp (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Jaeger Burch (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Griffin Hart (Barbour County)

ROBOTICS

1st Place – Jacob Ham and Bryson Eby (Upshur County)

THERAPEUTIC SERVICES EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING – SECONDARY

1st Place – Michael Kimble (Upshur County)
2nd Place – Olivia Shipley (Upshur County)

THERAPEUTIC SERVICES FIRST AID/CPR – SECONDARY

1st Place – Maya Garcia (Upshur County)

THERAPEUTIC SERVICES HEALTH OCCUPATIONS PORTFOLIO – SECONDARY

1st Place – Hailey Anderson (Upshur County)

THERAPEUTIC SERVICES MEDICAL MATH – SECONDARY

1st Place – Daylen Robinson (Lewis County)

THERAPEUTIC SERVICES PREPARED SPEECH – SECONDARY

1st Place – Makenna Adkins (Lewis County)

THERAPEUTIC SERVICES JOB SKILL DEMONSTRATION – SECONDARY

1st Place – Makayla Hawkins (Lewis County)
2nd Place – Tori Hagerich (Upshur County)
3rd Place – Jozlynn Lake (Lewis County)

WELDING FABRICATION TEAM – SECONDARY

1st Place Team – Remington Bonnett (Upshur County), Noah Daniels (Lewis County), Ethan Rowan (Upshur County)
2nd Place Team – Nicholas Groves (Upshur County), Isaac Mullins (Upshur County), Timber Starkey (Upshur County)

WELDING FABRICATION TEAM – POST-SECONDARY