ExplorNet News

West Johnston High School teacher Todd Thibault - a member of QTL/ExplorNet curriculum teams - was among the winners at SkillsUSA state competitions during April. He was named North Carolina SkillsUSA 2009 Advisor of the Year.

Thibault's WJHS chapter has some 140 members, dozens of whom participated at state competition and a few of whom will be heading to Nationals in Kansas City in June.

Congratulations are also due to winners of state contests in North Carolina and Arkansas.

In Arkansas, Jonathan Chambers of Cossatot Community College at Nashville won first in Computer Maintenance, while in the Technical Computer Apps contest Benjamin Clarke of Waldron High took first, and Prescott High had the second and third place finishers in Ryan Cason and Dillon Maxwell.

In the NC Computer Maintenance competition, Bojia Chen of Chapel Hill High won first, followed by Lyndsey Fernandez and Chris Westmoreland of Weaver Academy and then Alex Geiger and Tyshaun Wynter of Philip O. Berry Academy.

In the Technical Computer Applications competition, Morgan Harrington of West Craven High won first, followed by Jay Ingram of West Montgomery. Thanks to Computer Warehouse of North Carolina for helping us judge that competition and donating numerous prizes for students in both contests, including Lenovo mini laptops for the first place winners.

Meanwhile, Middle Creek High School made quite an impression in the Digital Media and related competitions with five state championships. MCHS students finished in the top five in nine different categories, and the school placed multiple winners within the same competition in three different categories.

"We are so proud of our students," says MCHS Digital Media teacher Luis Maldonado, one of the instructors who lead ExplorNet's Digital Media teacher trainings. "They did a wonderful job and represented themselves and the school very well."

Middle Creek's winners were as follows:

3D Visualization and Animation
Dylan McGlynn and Chris Thompson - 1st place - State Champions

Advertising Design
Cori May - 1st place - State Champion

Digital Media
Abby Talmadge, Amanda Blazewicz, Marrisa Magusson, Brandon Arron - 1st place - State Champions

Radio/Audio
Courtney Sezer and Shawn Courts - 1st place - State Champions
Aston Rainey and Lorenzo Surles - 3rd place

Job Skill Demonstration
Rob Benson - 1st place - State Champion

Video Product Development
Nick Lilly and Dan Maloney - 2nd place
Logan Richardson and Dexter Montague - 3rd place

Extemporaneous Speaking
Dan Gallegor - 3rd place

Firefighting
Gibson Reynolds - 4th place
Steven Cochran - 5th place

Good luck to all who advance to Nationals!

For more information, contact Robin Fred via e-mail at rfred@qtlcenters.org or call him at 888.507.3800.