February 5, 2024
By BARTON HENLEY
Rutherford County Schools
Oakland High School hosted the third annual “Battle of the Skills” contest last week, and the event was an opportunity for RCS students in construction classes to come together and test their knowledge against one another.
Oakland construction teacher Derry Wells planned the event.
“We try to use our curriculum to support for the event’s parameters,” Wells said. “The events are designed for our students to show their skills to other students and potential future employers. We want our kids to be workforce ready.”
There are four different competitions during the day-long event including electrical bending, electrical wiring, plumbing, and truss building.
Students from Oakland and Smyrna high schools competed in the contest.
Rockvale construction teacher Jaste VanMeter observed the competition, and plans to have students competing next year.
Rutherford County was not the only county represented as Cannon County High School’s construction program came to observe as well.
Ray Patrick — construction teacher at Cannon County High School — said he was excited for his students to be able to observe the event.
“I want our students to learn from the activities, interact with other students,” Patrick said. “We want to expand our program. This today will help us to prepare for the future.”
The winners of the event as as follows:
Electrical Bending
1st- Luke Wolfe- Smyrna
2nd Boston Pass- Oakland
3rd- Gabriel Sutherland- Smyrna
Electrical Wiring
1st- Alain Villafuerte- Smyrna
2nd- Jared Costa- Smyrna
3rd- Nolan White- Oakland
Plumbing
1st- Jose Gomez- Smyrna
2nd - Roberto Hernandez- Smyrna
3rd- Jordan Ragland- Oakland
Truss Building
1st- Manuel Rodriguez- Smyrna
2nd- Ricky Esquivel- Oakland
3rd - Zoe Majano- Smyrna
Rutherford County Schools would like to thank the following industry sponsors who participated in the event:
- S&W Electrical
- Roscoe Brown
- Sadler Engineering