Amarillo College’s students and dual-credit students both competed in a state-wide contest at SkillsUSA Texas earlier this month in Corpus Christi. Together the group earned three first place finishes and those students qualified to compete in the national SkillsUSA competitions.“This was the first year that secondary and post-secondary students competed at the same location at the same time,” said Ernie Sheets, AC’s Manufacturing Education Center (MEC) department chair. “I feel this enhanced the experience for all post-secondary students in attendance. High school students are now able to see colleges competing which in turn developed a vision for continued education pathways.”

Amarillo College Graduate Samuel Bauman started working at Amarillo Gear as a CNC machinist while he was a student at AC. The California native was living in Borger when he became aware of Amarillo College’s welding program. “I heard it was a great program, so I enrolled to learn more,” he said. “I enjoyed those classes, but when we did a CAD modeling assignment in our machining class, I knew this was what I wanted to do.”