TestOut Students Shine at SkillsUSA

Here in the United States, where TestOut Continuing Education is headquartered, public schools — mostly high schools — tend to lump computer skills classes in with everything else that falls under the label "career and technical education," or CTE. In 2018, computer skills are of central importance to learning in most subjects, so it seems a little behind the times to think of knowing stuff about computers as having application only in the CTE bailiwick.

We don't make the rules, however, and it's generally easier to roll with established and accepted practices than to attempt to reinvent the wheel. At any rate, that's a somewhat long-winded means of explaining why there are national computer skills competitions organized by SkillsUSA, a U.S.-based CTE student association (active since 1965) with participation from more than 395,000 students at U.S. high schools and, to a lesser extent, middle schools and colleges.

TestOut, our parent company, supplies computer education and training courseware to many of the schools involved in SkillsUSA, so we have a vested interest in the performance of TestOut-trained students who compete at the regional, state, and national levels. Earlier this summer, at the end of June, TestOut representatives attended the 55th annual National Leadership and Skills Conference hosted by SkillsUSA in Louisville, Ky., to observe and participate.

The conference includes the national level of SkillsUSA competition, and we're pleased to report that several of our students performed extremely well. TestOut-affiliated winners include the following:

Silver Medal in Internetworking (High School) — Elias Rotondo of Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School in Bourne, Mass.

Bronze Medal in Internetworking (High School) — Robert Bell of Polytech High School in Woodside, Del.

Bronze Medal in Information Technology Services (High School) — Kallen Filburn of St. Clair TEC in Marysville, Mich.

Silver Medal in Internetworking (College) — Jesse Wiseman of Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb.

Silver Medal in Technical Computer Applications (College) — Christopher Dagnan of Tennessee College of Applied Technology (Chattanooga) in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Bronze Medal in Technical Computer Applications (College) — Tara Monastero of Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Ala.

Congratulations to all of the winners! We're thrilled to see your accomplishments and we hope that the skills you've learned — to say nothing of proven, in the crucible of competition — will be valuable for decades to come.