San Diego Job Corps’ gold medal winning student Edwin Rodriguez will compete in the Skills USA National Contest in Kansas City, Missouri in June.  The 24 year old from Chula Vista is enrolled in Job Corps’ Electrical Career Technical Training Program and will be graduating this summer.

 “I’ve been in the Electrical trade since last September,” Rodriguez advised.  “The following month I heard about the Skills USA competition and several of us in the Electrical and Plumbing trades began preparing for the contest.  In February we won 6 medals in the Region 6 competition in San Bernardino.”

Last weekend the medal winners competed in the state competition held in San Diego and won 3 medals.  In addition to Rodriguez, Elvis Degante, a San Diego resident, won the silver medal in the electrical competition.  Plumbing student James Mowery, who is 24 years old and also from San Diego, won the bronze medal at the two-day competition.

Electrical and plumbing trade instructors Randall Mann and John Gallagher stated that all 11 of their students who initially took part in the San Bernardino competition were highly-motivated and well-prepared.  They advised that the Skills USA contests involve both written tests and hands-on practical demonstrations, and their students competed against very qualified contestants from throughout the state.  “We’re proud of Edwin and all of our students,” Mann stated. “It was our first year of state competition, and what they learned preparing for the contests will certainly help them in their future careers.”

“I was pretty excited when they announced I had won the gold medal,” Rodriguez stated.  “It was a two-day competition, and I learned a lot during the contest from the judges.”  Rodriguez plans to enter an electrical apprenticeship program when he graduates from Job Corps. “I’ve enjoyed my training here, and my ultimate goal is to have my own electrical business in the future,” he added.