Polyvance at 2019 SkillsUSA Conference

The 2019 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference was held at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Last year, nitrogen plastic welding became a scored part of the Collision Repair Technology segment. Kurt took some of our nitrogen plastic welders and nitrogen generators for the competitors to use. Here are several photos from Kurt's trip to the SkillsUSA national competition.

Kurt in front of a stack of 20 6085 Nitro Fuzer nitrogen plastic welders and two 6066 Nitrocell nitrogen generators.
Everything is ready to go to Louisville.

Getting 40 bumpers cleaned and prepped for the competition Thursday.

The A-frames are all up, now time to install the 20 welders that will be used for the Collision Repair Technology competition.

Wednesday was orientation for the roughly 60 contestants who will be participating in the SkillsUSA Collision Repair Technology hands-on contest. Polyvance is proud to be involved with Mark Algie and Shawn Collins of 3M in this effort. We made some progress this year...Only four of the 60+ participants said they had never used a nitrogen welder before.

Mark Algie of 3M speaking to the competitors.

Shawn Collins of 3M speaking to the competitors.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Welds lined up.

Polyvance is proud we could help out at SkillsUSA again this year. We want to thank all of the other companies and individuals that put in their time, effort, and services to make the SkillsUSA competition a success.

All of the Automotive Refinishing Technology and Collision Repair Technology volunteers.
This is what it takes to put on the competition!

We would like to offer our congratulations to the six competitors who placed first, second, and third in the Collision Repair Technology competition (three from the high school level and three from the college level).

High School Competition Winners

• GOLD - Noah Borer - Vanguard-Sentinel CTC (Sentinel Campus) - Tiffin, OH
• SILVER - Brian Vanderheiden - Freedom High School - Freedom, WI
• BRONZE - Ethan A Webb - Heritage High School - Maryville, TN

College Competition Winners

• GOLD - Abagayle Boden - Aims Community College (Windsor) - Greeley, CO
• SILVER - Nicolas White - Salt Lake Community College - Salt Lake City, UT
• BRONZE - Perry Jones - Dakota County Technical College - Rosemount, MN

Great job to everyone who competed! We are so happy we could lend our equipment to the competition and support those interested in collision repair. We are looking forward to next year's competition!