THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605170193
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH THIEL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
Dawn L. Sykes felt her nerves rage as she approached the small conference room at the Pavilion Convention Center in Virginia Beach.
The 18-year-old Indian River High School senior had performed for teachers and peers many times before, but this was different. She now was competing against the 12 best electronics students in the state.
At stake was a chance to prove everything she's learned at the school system's Center for Science and Technology; a chance to win a top honor before graduating; and a chance to go on to a national competition and possibly win college scholarships.
Sykes' oral presentation about how to change a faulty resistor in an electronic circuit board - a show that had won her first place in various local and regional contests - was her ticket.
``I was really nervous,'' Sykes recalled this week. She gave herself a mental pep talk, and went on with the presentation.
She took third place.
She became one of 15 kids from the Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology to win a coveted first-, second- or third-place title in the 32nd annual State Leadership Conference and Virginia Skills Championships, sponsored by the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America.
The Chesapeake Center for Science and Technology has about 283 students who are members of a local chapter of the Vocational Industrial Club. Many of them participated in local and regional competitions, showing off the job skills they've learned at the center.
Nineteen students advanced to the state contest held at the Pavilion earlier this month.
Of those, 11 won first-place titles and are eligible to go to Kansas City in June to compete in the national job skills competition. That's more first-place winners than the center has had in recent memory, said Ronald L. Miller, the center's coordinator for the Vocational Industrial Club.
``It's an exceptional year,'' Miller said. ``We've done very well. These skill contests are very hard to win.''
``Everybody's real proud and excited,'' said Scott Waters, an 18-year-old Great Bridge High School senior and a television production student at the center. Waters won two first-place titles, one as Virginia's male Vocational Industrial Clubs student of the year and one for producing the best-in-state scrapbook chronicling his chapter's activities.
``It was just a good feeling,'' especially after a lot of hard work by students and teachers, Waters said.
Students practiced all year, working with their teachers and honing their skills.
When it came time for the state contest, all the students experienced the same competitive tension as Sykes.
Waters, for example, had to take a written test and undergo interviews to prove to judges that he was the best male Vocational Industrial Club student in the state. He'll now go to Kansas City as a voting delegate, helping to choose officers for the national Vocational Industrial Clubs.
``I was nervous because this was real important to me, and I really wanted to win,'' Waters said.
Staci Dockery, a senior at Deep Creek High School, won third place in the competition for female student of the year.
Chris Johnson, a senior at Oscar F. Smith High School and an automotive technology student at the center, was challenged with diagnosing and fixing problems in an automobile within a time limit and under the scrutiny of judges. Johnson took first place.
Miller said Waters, Dockery, Johnson, Sykes and other winners should be extremely proud of their accomplishment.
``It's very competitive,'' he said. ``When you get to the state level, you're talking about the 12 top students in the state. Sometimes they're decided by just one point difference between you and somebody else.
``Then when you get to nationals, it's even worse, because you're talking about the 50 best from the states.''
Sykes said she was disappointed that as a third-place winner, she wouldn't get to go to the national competition, mostly because she'll miss out on the opportunity to compete for scholarship money. She'll start school at Tidewater Community College in the fall, and needs all the financial help she can get.
But looking back on the experience, Sykes said she's happy about what she achieved.
``There were a lot of people who didn't make it as far as I did, who didn't win an award,'' she said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
FIRST PLACE WINNER
These are the first-place winners in the citywide Young Author's
Contest. In some areas there were no entries.
Fiction: Kindergarten - Kristy Knight, Kilby Shores; First grade
- Ebony Rodgers, Mount Zion; Second grade - Jovan Elliott, Nansemond
Parkway; Third grade - Sarah Burgess, Nansemond Parkway; Fourth
grade - Patricia Reeser, Booker T. Washington; Fifth grade - Chisty
Magruder, Elephant's Fork; Sixth grade - Lori Pruitt, John F.
Kennedy; Seventh grade - Jessie Henton and William Wade, John
Yeates; Eighth grade - Robert W. Rouse, John F. Kennedy; Ninth grade
- Julian Bouchard, Nansemond River; 10th grade - Katie King,
Nansemond River; 11th grade - Kelly Jenkins, Nansemond River; 12th
grade - Kelly Jenkins, Nansemond River.
Non-Fiction: Kindergarten - Kellie Stables, Kilby Shores; First
grade - Andrew Perry, Kilby Shores; Second grade - Lamone Taylor,
Kilby Shores; Third grade - Rachel Short, Robertson; Fourth grade -
Tara Jones, Oakland; Fifth grade - Megan Weber, Kilby Shores; 10th
grade - Carrie Morgan, Nansemond River; 11th grade - Alaina Aston,
Nansemond River.
Poetry: First grade - Amber Richardson, Mount Zion; Second grade
- Travis Rountree, Elephant's Fork; Third grade - Curtis Luffman,
Oakland; Fourth grade - Jonathan Martin, Oakland; Fifth grade -
Susan Hinson, Booker T. Washington; Sixth grade - Amy Edwards,
Forest Glen; Seventh grade - Kimberly Eure, Forest Glen; Eighth
grade - Matasha Jones, John F. Kennedy; Ninth grade - Julie Neri,
Lakeland; 10th grade - Elizabeth Pearson, Nansemond River; 11th
grade - Shenni Fain, Nansemond River; 12th grade - Kyna Monroe -
Nansemond River.
Autobiography: Second grade - Amber Baines, Driver; Third grade -
Jonathan Merrell, Oakland; Fourth grade - Kelly Freeman, Nansemond
River; Fifth grade - Jeenal Patel, Elephant's Fork.
by CNB