Mixing fun with education, LeCroy Career Technical Center’s drafting design program brought home 5 out of 6 trophies in two separate competitions held at Wallace Community College in Selma on April 1.
Nine engineering students spent their day competing against more than five schools for a chance to win trophies and scholarships.

Josh Phillips, draft and design instructor sponsors the trip each year taking those students who are interested in competing.
Half of the students worked with board drafting and the others drafted 2D and 3D drawings on a computer.

“I usually take whoever wants to go; every student has the capability of going,” said Phillips. “I just want to thank my students for their efforts and winning an award. I’m proud of them for making that effort to be great.”

In Engineering Drafting, Derek Williams won 1st place, Alex Baker won 2nd place and Kevin Wilkerson won 3rd place. In Mechanical Drafting, Preston Salim won 1st, and John Tyler Allen won 2nd place.

“I’m always super excited,” said Phillip. “It was an equal win for me because it all pays off. It’s better than me giving an A or B because it’s someone else grading them and it will help them excel at life.”

For winning first place, both D. Williams and P. Salim will receive scholarships to Wallace Community College in Selma as well.

“I try to make it fun for my students,” Phillips said. “A lot of people fuss and say we’re not learning just having fun, but when we win competitions they see we are learning.”

Last year, the school’s engineering group placed in the top 100 in the nation out of approximately 6,000 students.

“It was a pretty good competition this year, they competed against 40 people,” said Phillips. “The students were super excited about winning. It builds confidence.”

The students will be participating in a 3-day preliminary competition at the end of the month in order to try to make it to nationals.