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Career Center students win at SkillsUSA championships

By Brian Ferry 4 min read

Two Warren County competitors went to states and brought home medals.

Warren County Career Center students Dominic Benson, power equipment technology, and Connor Hecei, automotive technology, each placed third in their respective events at the SkillsUSA State Championships April 12 through 14 in Hershey.

Benson went into the competition with confidence built on the experiences he has earned in three years at the career center, his co-op work at Superior Tire, and a fifth-place finish at states last year.

"I expected to do pretty well," he said. "I went last year and my goal was to improve."

He also had some family history to back up. "My dad went to nationals in that competition 20 years ago," Benson said.

Hecei was competing in SkillsUSA for the first year. He was in the automotive maintenance and light repair event.

He also felt that his preparation at the career center, both in auto tech and with his co-op advisor Bob Smith, and his co-op work at Warren Midtown Motors, set him up for success at Skills.

"I felt confident that I was going to place in the top three," Hecei said. "Once my name was called, it was pretty surreal walking through the crowd of people."

While Benson was confident, there was no way to know how he would finish. "It's definitely nerve-wracking… sitting in the audience, waiting for your event," he said. "But it's also an exciting experience. When they finally announce your school and your name, 'I did it!'"

"I was shaking for the next hour," he said.

Benson won a $5,000 scholarship to Ohio Technical College, that he will not be using, and a set of Snap-On Tools that he certainly will.

He is already set to attend the University of Northwestern Ohio where he will study to become an agricultural diesel technician and earn is commercial driver's license.

"That five grand sounds pretty good, but I don't want to lose what I could gain at UNOH," Benson said. "My end goal is to be self-sustaining, running my own business."

He's thinking of something in farm equipment repair and he expects his performance at SkillsUSA to help him be ready to get a foot in the door.

Hecei won a scholarship from Penn College in Williamsport of $1,000 per year that he plans to use toward a bachelor's degree in automotive technology management. He had other choices. Like Benson, he could have opted for a $5,000 scholarship to OTC. There were also reductions of 30 percent of tuition at Automotive Training Center and 25 percent of tuition at Universal Technical Institute.

Benson said he would encourage students to compete in SkillsUSA.

"It is definitely a great thing to get into," he said. "I strongly encourage that you start in your junior year, get a feel for it, and come back in your senior year."

In addition to networking, there are scholarships and even job offers to be won.

"Employers look strongly on placing statewide or nationally," Benson said.

"If you're in the career center, I think you should do Skills," Hecei said. "Everyone should at least try it to put yourself out there and see how you compare to others."

The competition encouraged him to be flexible. He had to apply his existing knowledge -- mostly of Ford products -- to Toyota at the event. "I had to learn how to use their computer systems while I was there," he said.

The co-op with Superior helped Benson with some of the aspects of the competition. "At work, we do a lot of computer invoicing… working with databases," he said.

At Midtown, Hecei built on his career center work in the areas of inspection, vehicle safety, drive-line diagnosis, suspension, and time management, he said. "Shadowing master technicians helped me with solving issues that customers are concerned about."

Working with Smith helped him develop soft skills and a professional manner -- abilities that served him well with the judges at Skills.

"How you present yourself comes first before how you perform in your event," he said.

Skills isn't just a competition, it's another step in the students' development. The event helped them identify some weaknesses that they can address moving forward.

"I definitely need to work on my electrical skills," Benson said.

The same went for Hecei. "I've always had trouble with electrical," he said. "Everything else I felt pretty solid."

Warren County did not have the largest contingent of students at the state event, but the career center fared well.

"Most of the schools we were competing with were huge schools," Benson said. "To come home with two state medalists… that was big. Just because you're small, doesn't mean you're not capable."

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