By KIM ESTILL / GUEST COLUMNIST

The School of Technology had numerous students place in state competitions this year, who will go on to national competitions this summer.

The Drafting Design Technology department had a winner for the first time in school history. Under teacher Wayne Waldrep, student Bobby Duff won first place at the state competition and received two year scholarships to several state community/technical colleges, $500 toward the national competition, a 19-inch flat panel computer monitor, a 160GB portable hard drive, a 2GB thumb drive and autodesk software. Duff will compete nationally at the SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference this month.

The CISCO Networking department, under Scott Shaddix, saw students Daniel DuBose and Alan Evans compete in the internetworking division. DuBose received a gold medal and Evans received a silver medal. In the technical computer applications division, Kierston Grantham won silver and Justin Crowe won bronze.

In the telecommunications division, Borrah Campbell received a silver medal. Dubose will represent the state at the SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City, Mo.

The Auto-tech department had several state qualifiers under the leadership of Ryan Gerber.

Jacob King and Robert Elmore competed in the auto-tech service division. Dusty Roper and Terrence Carter competed in the motorcycle repair division. Justin Kennedy and Nick Austin competed in the diesel engines division and Paul Ray McAnnally and Dustin Sparks competed in the power equipment technical division.

The Collision Repair department had four winners under Allen Franklin. Joey Barrett won a $23,000 scholarship, a free trip to a workshop at the Dupont Refinishing School in Atlanta, Ga., a $500 Kobalt bottom box tool chest, and tools valued at $2,000. Austin May also won a $23,000 scholarship and tools valued at $1,000. In the motorcycle technology division, Evan Wheat place third in this contest. Wheat received a $23,000 scholarship and hand tools.

The Welding program, led by Jim Casey, produced two students who competed at the district SkillsUSA competition in Tuscaloosa. Both Barrett Briley and Warren Griner competed at the state competition