Samuel Allen had not planned to compete in Marine Service Technology at the state level, but it certainly paid off for the upcoming Lumberton High School junior.
After winning the state championship at SkillsUSA competition in April, he captured the Bronze Medal at the 2018 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills in Louisville, Kentucky. Allen said he finished third out of about 13 competitors.
“But, there were about 30,000 people competing altogether,” he said Monday. “I didn’t get around much to talk to all of the company people. There were a lot of big companies, some heavy hitters there. I was just amazed at the size of the event. It was ginormous.”
Allen has a definite advantage going into his junior year: experience. He can compete in the SkillsUSA state event for two more years.
Allen originally wanted to compete in the diesel division, but another student stepped in.
“I have always been interested in marine,” he said after he won the state competition. “The reason I wanted diesel because we have a boat in Bay St. Louis that has twin Detroit engines; a Detroit is a two-stroke diesel. I also like marine because it is about boats, I’ve worked on them and I am the only one who can fit in the engine room and get around the thick stuff.”
Allen, who plays catcher for the LHS Panthers, said the Bay St. Louis boat gets some steady use on the Gulf Coast.
“We mostly stay up in the bay and in the Sound,” he said. “About Cat Island is as far as we’ve been. We usually don’t fish for a specific kind of fish; we usually just go out, throw the line out and see what we can catch.”
After graduation, Allen said he hasn’t decided what he’s going to do.
“I’m not 100 percent certain,” he said. “If I can do the SkillsUSA competition and get a scholarship to MMI (Marine Mechanics Institute), I would probably do that. That would be a good start right out of school.”
In the weeklong National Leadership and Skills Conference, delegate sessions for middle-school, high-school and college/postsecondary students are conducted by the national officers. The sessions provide a platform to conduct the organization’s official business, elect student leaders and recognize state association voting delegates.
SkillsUSA University is a program of educational seminars available to all participants. SkillsUSA TECHSPO returns to the conference as a whole new experience and is now located on the competition floor. The SkillsUSA Championships were held last Wednesday and Thursday. More than 6,000 outstanding career and technical education students – all state contest winners – competed hands-on in 100 different trade, technical and leadership fields. Students work against the clock and each other, proving their expertise in occupations such as electronics, computer-aided drafting, precision machining, medical assisting and culinary arts.
Contests were run with the help of industry, trade associations and labor organizations, and test competencies are set by industry. Leadership contestants demonstrated skills including extemporaneous speaking and conducting meetings by parliamentary procedure. The competitions were open to the public and free of charge.
The Awards Ceremony took place Friday at KEC’s Freedom Hall.
