Jakson Ring and Derbe Stroup, both juniors, took the gold medal at the state competition on April 19 in Hershey, which has earned them the trip to nationals from June 19-23. Ring won for computer numerical control technician, and Stroup won for computer numerical control turning.

"It feels pretty cool," Ring said. "It's definitely an accomplishment."Also attending nationals is Zackary Klotz, the silver winner from the plumbing competition. Tammy Marshall, a cosmetology instructor at CCTI and SkillsUSA co-adviser, said Klotz became eligible for nationals when the gold winner from another school was not able to attend.Kevin Kuehner, the head adviser and precision machine technology instructor, has been with CCTI for 10 years, and come competition time, he will have gone to nationals four times with five of his students."They are the best in the state," he said. "We're like the school to reckon with."Which is music to Ring's ears."Would be nice to be the ones to beat," he said. "We're happy to be on the top.""We're definitely going to try our hardest and see what we come home with," Stroup said. "I don't really know what to expect."This was the first year that Ring and Stroup competed in any SkillsUSA competition, let alone states and nationals.Stroup said he thinks he'll get more nervous about the competition as it gets closer. Jackson, on the other hand, feels pretty confident going into the competition.Whatever happens at nationals, Kuehner said he is thrilled with how things have turned out so far."We're doing really good," he said. "These guys are my juniors. They were going up against seniors (at states)."CCTI alumnus and former Kuehner student Zachary Seiler went to nationals last year as a senior and returned to the states to compete at the college level, co-adviser Marshall said. He took gold there and once again is headed for nationals. Seiler is a student at Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.For winning gold at states, Ring and Stroup were awarded scholarships at Penn Tech. Stroup said the scholarship is $2,500 per year for four years."I never really thought about college before," he said. "Now I'm thinking about college, thinking about what I could go on to do."In all, CCTI had 29 students competed at the state level, Marshall said. Some worked individually and others as teams. The school also had six delegates that were there to learn about the competition. CCTI instructor Jeremy Pease served as a co-adviser.In addition to Ring, Stroup and Klotz, the other medalists included Daniel McFeely, who won a silver award for automotive refinishing, and Skylar Rutan, Kendyl Snyder and Shaunalee Archer won bronze for their promotional bulletin board.SkillsUSA is a national organization with competitions at the district, state and national levels for students enrolled in technical trade education. Kuehner said the competition consists of 103 events and is sponsored by major manufacturers such as Ford, Caterpillar and Harley-Davidson."This is phenomenal for the students," he said. "They are going to be the workforce of the future."