Dunwoody students performed well again this year in the SkillsUSA Minnesota Contest held last weekend at various locations in the Twin Cities, including the Dunwoody campus.

The Collision students, advised by Bruce Graffunder and Bob Brandon, made a complete sweep of the awards, taking first through fourth place in the contest. Kevin Wendt advised two teams for the Web Design contest, and they placed first and second.

Overall, 16 Dunwoody students competed in seven contests, including Collision, Automotive Refinishing, HVAC, Computer Programming, Computer Maintenance, Web Design, and Internetworking.  The students medaled in five of the contests with three in first place, two in second place, three in third place, and two in fourth place.  The full results are:

Collision Repair– Advisors: Bruce Graffunder and Bob Brandon

1^st: Erik Campion

2^nd: Trevor Multhaup

3^rd: Huey Lewis

4^th: Andy LaRue

Internetworking – Advisors: Rob Bentz and Dave Mansheffer

1^st: Donald Geer

Computer Web Design –Advisor: Kevin Wendt

1^st Place Team:  Joe Packer and Brett Lidfors

2^nd Place Team:  Martin Sheeks and Brady Skaurad

Automotive Refinishing – Advisors: Bruce Graffunder and Bob Brandon

3^rd: Erik Campion

4^th: Huey Lewis

Computer Maintenance – Advisor: Dave Mansheffer

3^rd: Lee Reiners

The first place winners are eligible to compete at the national SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City, Mo., June 24–28.

Kevin Wendt and Bruce Graffunder will be attending the national competition as advisors for the contests.  Four Dunwoody faculty members are going to the national competition to judge: Lonny Lunn and Dave Duval for the Automotive competition, Heather Gay for the Teamworks competition, and Polly Friendshuh for the Electrical Construction Wiring competition.

For more information about SkillsUSA Minnesota, visit www.mnskillsusa.org.

SkillsUSA Minnesota is part of a national organization that serves over a quarter million student members annually, organized into more than 14,700 chapters and 54 state and territorial associations (including Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands). The Minnesota Association has offered leadership opportunities to over 200,000 student members since 1967, with a current annual membership of over 3,000. There are chapters in 29 technical colleges and 50 high schools or cooperative centers, with potential to serve many more. SkillsUSA is governed by a Board of Directors, elected from teachers that advise local chapters, and representing both the high school and college divisions and industry representatives. All programs are offered as integral to the curriculum.

Remember the 1998 Minnesota State Fair? Ryan Stumpf does. He had his photo taken at the Dunwoody booth and received a personalized calendar. And, apparently, even back then he did see himself in a rewarding career — Ryan has enrolled in the Automotive Service Technology program and will be starting classes when Dunwoody begins its academic year next week. Congratulations Ryan! Welcome to Dunwoody!

And while it’s been a few years since Dunwoody has been at the State Fair, we hope to get back as soon as next year.

Gail Rosenblum’s Star Tribune column today featured Kofi Law, who graduated from Dunwoody’s Automotive program. The column focused on his journey from citizen of Togo to Minnesota resident (and Dunwoody student) to American citizen and U.S. serviceman. It also featured comments from Student Services Advisor Molly Malone.

Rosenblum writes:

Law, 28, had dreamed of becoming a U.S. citizen since he was a boy. He moved to Minneapolis in January 2003 from Togo (where the average daily temperature is 80 degrees), taught himself English, graduated from Dunwoody College of Technology and gathered the required paperwork to become a new American.

A few days after a joyful citizenship celebration at Bethel University in Arden Hills in August, Law headed to Fort McCoy in Wisconsin for premobilization training.

Later she reports on a conversation she had with Molly:

Molly Malone Docken, student services adviser at Dunwoody, calls him “the nicest guy in the whole world,” and a model student to boot. “He would come early and stay late,” she said. “Whenever he had questions, he would ask. When he got nervous, he’d seek tutoring. Deadlines looming? He never missed one. Then he would follow up. We would love to clone him.”

For more, click here to read the full column on the Star Tribune website.

Senior Auto Instructor Steve Reinarts talks to WCCO-TV about handling cars in cold weather http://twurl.nl/0l22uv