Adam Gardiner, a junior from the Panther Valley School District and a student in the Drafting Design Technology Department at Carbon Career & Technical Institute, recently placed first in architectural drafting and received a gold medal in the district level competition for SkillsUSA.

“So far, I’m really enjoying drafting design technology,” Gardiner said. “I did SkillsUSA for architecture and my teachers have been saying that I’m doing really good at it.”

Gardiner related how he was behind in his studies when he first started at CCTI, but, with hard work, he caught up with the rest of the students within a year.

“I was probably better off by working harder and getting that discipline in, so now I’m working a lot better and a lot harder,” he said.

Gardiner will compete in the SkillsUSA State competition in Hershey to be held April 2-4.

He said how his hard work is paying off and plans to continue to work hard and has his sights set on college after graduating. Cornell, MIT and Southern California are some of the universities he is considering.

Kevin Kuehner, SkillsUSA adviser for CCTI, told the Joint Operating Committee that he sees how SkillsUSA helps students to build their confidence.

“Most of the students that come here have the talent to do stuff but they lack the confidence,” Kuehner explained. “If you build their confidence, they do a fantastic job.

“Making these kids feel good about themselves, I’ve seen kids become so successful because of SkillsUSA.”