Submitted by South Puget Sound Community College
South Puget Sound Community College Automotive Technology student Mike Kangiser claimed a gold medal at the SkillsUSA Championships in Kansas City, Missouri. Kangiser claimed gold in Customer Service at the June 23-27 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference.
The championships included keynote speaker Mike Rose of “Dirty Jobs” fame, and included more than 17,000 in attendance. Kangiser said the event was a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“To have my name called at the top, gold-medal contestant in my field in such grandeur was an unforgettable moment,” he said. “I felt fortunate to differentiate myself from a large field of candidates.”
“He represented our school very well,” SPSCC Worker Retraining Program Manager Christina Winstead, who accompanied Kangiser on the trip, said. “He was an outstanding delegate for our school. And he did amazing.”
SkillsUSA is the national organization for students in trade, industrial, technical and health occupations education. It sponsors the SkillsUSA Championships annually to recognize the achievements of career and technical education students and to encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen occupations. Working against the clock and each other, participants proved their expertise in job skills for occupations and through competitions in leadership skills. The customer service contest evaluates students’ proficiency in providing customer service. Contestants demonstrate their ability to perform customer service through telephone and computer skills, communications, problem solving, conflict resolution and business etiquette.
Kangiser also won the state competition in April at in Pasco. SPSCC student Steven Severson placed third in the state competition in extemporaneous speech. Thanks to his nationals win, Kangiser is now invited to the WorldSkills competition in 2015 in Brazil. He plans to fundraiser to try to make the trip.
