The Okaw Area Vocational School was represented very well recently as all 11 students from the welding program that were entered in the yearly Midwest Technical Institute Welding competition placed in the Top 15. The competition, which is comparable to what a high school sports state tournament would be, is made up of students from across the state. Welding instructor Michael Hawks says his students are not allowed to compete unless they are making C’s and better in all classes at their home schools of Vandalia, Greenville, Hillsboro, Mulberry Grove and all other schools that are part of the Okaw program.
Top Ten Finishers were:
Flight A (MIG, Stick, Tig welding)
1st Place Colton McGuire of Greenville
2nd Place Larry Edwards of Greenville
7th Place Mitch Abbot of Hillsboro
Flight B (MIG, Stick)
1st Place Shane Green of Hillsboro
2nd Place Dalton Dugan of Vandalia
3rd Place Blane Pruett of Vandalia
4th Place Justin Evans of New Approach School
8th Place Bryce Dickenson of Vandalia
9th Place Austin Redfern of Mulberry Grove
For their first place wins, Colton McGuire and Shane Green each received $500 awards as well as trophies. The other top 5 finishers received trophies and the 4th through 9th place finishers received medals.
Kaleb Keiser of Hillsboro and Les Jernigan of Mulberry Grove finished in the Top 15. Dalton Dugan of Vandalia was also the highest scorer on the written test portion of the competition.